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CONTINUING EDUCATION.
The trusted source for
healthcare information and
CONTINUING EDUCATION.
By Jill Drachenberg, Editor, Relias-AHC Media
In fiscal year 2017, federal government efforts to crack down on healthcare fraud and abuse led to billions of dollars in collections, according to a newly released report.
The Health and Human Services Department’s Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced in their annual report that they negotiated more than $2.4 billion in judgments and settlements involving cases of false claims, kickbacks, and other civil charges under the Health Care Fraud and Abuse Control Program, the Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team, and the Medicare Strike Force.
The crackdown on fraud also netted the following:
The DOJ also launched its Opioid Fraud and Abuse Detection pilot program in August 2017. “This unit will focus specifically on opioid-related health care fraud using data to identify and prosecute individuals that are contributing to this prescription opioid epidemic,” according to the report. The unit will work with the HHS OIG, FBI, and Drug Enforcement Administration and will “focus solely on investigating and prosecuting healthcare fraud related to prescription opioids, including pill mill schemes and pharmacies that unlawfully divert or dispense prescription opioids for illegitimate purposes.”
For more information on healthcare fraud and how to mitigate and prevent risk, see the latest issue of Healthcare Risk Management.