MIAMI (AP) — Private contractors that are supposed to guard against Medicare fraud paid claims submitted in the names of dead providers or for unnecessary medical treatments, which were among problems estimated to cost more than $1 billion in 2009, according to an inspector general report released Friday.
Federal health officials contract with private companies to process and pay Medicare claims and investigate fraud. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services inspector general examined how effectively several types of fraud contractors are investigating an estimated annual $60 billion in Medicare fraud.
The report found 62 areas vulnerable to fraud during a 2009 investigation. The most common were related to billing and coding, such as paying a claim even though it had an incorrect code or a provider who billed for an excessive number of services. Another common issue included bills that used the identification numbers of dead providers.
Continue Reading for Free
Register and gain access to:
- Breaking benefits news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical converage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
