House Panel Hikes HHS Anti-Fraud Budget, Gives Bulk Of Reform Law’s Prevention Funds To CDC

A House Appropriations subcommittee Thursday night voted to give HHS an 80 percent funding increase for its efforts to fight fraud and abuse in the Medicare and Medicaid programs. The panel’s fiscal 2011 HHS spending bill also allocates $594 million of the health reform law’s $750 million prevention and public trust fund to the Centers [...]

Health Blog Q&A: $251 Million Medicare Fraud Crackdown

Whatever your views on solving the problems of the U.S. health-care system, you’d probably agree that Medicare fraud could use some attention. Today U.S. government agencies including the Department of Justice said they were charging 94 individuals responsible for a collective $251 million in fraudulent Medicare claims.
Kirk [...]

Senators Urge Medicare Officials to Focus on Anti-Fraud Efforts

Senators prodded Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services officials in a hearing Thursday to do more to stop the Medicare program’s loss of tens of billions of dollars every year in fraud or improper payments.
“Sixty billion a year in fraud is simply unacceptable,” said Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., referring to one estimate.
CMS officials are in the [...]