Anti-Fraud Record: Per Dollar Spent, $8 Recovered

HSS boasts recovering $4.2B last year in health-care fraud effort
By Mark Russell,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 12, 2013 9:10 AM CST
Anti-Fraud Record: Per Dollar Spent, $8 Recovered
In this Feb. 14, 2012 file photo, Health and Human Services Secretary, Kathleen Sebelius speaks at HHS headquarters in Washington.   (AP Photo Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)

And the health-care fraud records just keep coming: The government last year recovered a record $4.2 billion that was stolen or illegally obtained from federal health-care programs, reports USA Today. That brings the since-2010 equation to this: $7.90 has been recouped via fines and legal judgments for each dollar spent in the health-care fraud crackdown, according to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. More impressive figures:

  • The government wiped nearly 10% of the nation's 1.5 million Medicare providers from Medicare's billing system last year.

  • All told, over the past four years, the Health Care Fraud and Abuse program has recovered $14.9 billion, up from $6.7 billion in the four years prior.
  • Some 826 defendants were convicted of health care fraud-related crimes last year.
"This fight against fraud strengthens the integrity of our health-care programs and helps us fulfill our commitment to our seniors," said Sebelius in a statement. (More Health and Human Services stories.)

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