False Claims Act Update & Alert
Taxpayers Against Fraud Education Fund | Washington, D.C. | WWW.TAF.ORG February  6, 2007
		Sign Up for this FREE Newsletter n Previous Newsletters n TAF Home Page n About TAF-EF n The False Claims Act n Email editor n To unsubscribe send email with "unsubscribe" in subject line.   Please take a moment to forward this FREE electronic newsletter to others that might be interested!   Quote of Note:  "I have never yet found a contractor who, if not watched, would not leave the government holding the bag."  - President Harry Truman
			Waxman Hearings on Katrina, Iraq and Medicaid Fraud  Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA), Chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, is holding hearings on waste, fraud and abuse.  First up is former ambassador L. Paul Bremer who oversaw Iraq reconstruction.  Later this week the Committee will look into Homeland Security and Medicaid price-gouging.  >> To read more
			Fox In the Hen House The New York Times reports that Pentagon contractors are now in charge of finding fraud by other contractors, even as government outsourcing has increased from $207 billion in 2000 to over $400 billion today.  Though contractors were supposed to save the taxpayers money, Paul C. Light of New York University notes that, "We have no data to show that contractors are actually more efficient than the government." >> To read more
			New IRS Whistleblower Office The Internal Revenue Service has named Stephen A. Whitlock director of its new Whistleblower Office which will administer the new IRS program modeled on the False Claims Act.   During his 27-year career, Whitlock led the IRS Office of Professional Responsibility and ran anti-fraud and abuse programs at DoD. >> To read more
			Making MFCU's Accountable? HHS Inspector General, Daniel Levinson recently issued a report on Medicaid Fraud Control Units (MFCUs) which found that 21 state MFCUs received fewer than 12 referrals a year for further investigation. Levinson's report notes that CMS has not created fraud-fighting performance standards for state Medicaid agencies. >> To read more
			How Much Medicaid Fraud Is Going Undiscovered? A 2005 Texas study found potential overpayment rates for the Fee for Service Medicaid program to be 13.7 percent overall, with an estimate of 21.2 percent in the Vendor Drug program.  In a similar report for Florida, the state found a wide range of errors within its Medicaid billing program, ranging from 21 percent in home and community-based Medicaid billing to 15 percent in prescription drugs, and 7 percent in inpatient hospital billing.
			Nominal Drug Price Fraud A Senate Finance Committee investigation into abuse of the nominal price exception to the Medicaid Best Price rule, concludes that "the Nominal Price Exception (NPE) was used primarily as a marketing tool, and was not used primarily for charitable purposes as intended by Congress.  In a 13-page letter  to CMS administrator Leslie Norwalk, Committee Chairman Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) and Ranking Member Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA) note that drug companies used the NPE to market statins, proton pump inhibitors, anti-depressants, anti-psychotics, erythropoietins, seizure disorder drugs, calcium channel blockers, and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.  >> To read more
			Dollars, Not Sense The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform has put together a web site and database to track the extent of waste, fraud, and abuse in federal contracts.  Entitled "Dollars, Not Sense," the committee data base currently has 142 contracts valued at $764 billion, with more to be added in the weeks and months ahead.