False Claims Act Update & Alert |
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Taxpayers
Against Fraud Education Fund | Washington, D.C. |
WWW.TAF.ORG |
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CONTACT: James
Moorman, TAF,
202-296-4826 ext 22 Good News on Health Care Fraud
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The good news is that every dollar invested by the government in investigation and prosecution of federal health care fraud returns $13 back to the American people. Health care economist Jack Meyer looked at total federal health care investigation and prosecution costs, and compared them to the amount of money returned to the Federal treasury minus the cost of awards to whistleblowers that help the government understand and prosecute the often-complex frauds. Meyer calculates that in the 5-year period from 1999 to 2003, the Federal government spent $409.6 million to recover $5.21 billion in health-care fraud related settlements and judgments. Meyer notes that the fiscal benefits of fraud detection and prosecution extend far beyond the monies recovered. "Civil health care fraud is surely one area of the federal budget where the government is running a substantial ‘surplus’" notes the report. "Major settlements with large recoveries have a ripple effect that reduces the likelihood of even greater frauds against the Medicare and Medicaid programs" says Meyer. "We don’t know exactly how much fraud is being deterred by the False Claims Act, but the number is almost certainly many billions of dollars a year more than is simply being recovered." TAF Education Fund President Jim Moorman notes that because modest fraud-fighting investments are producing phenomenal dividends, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services should consider deploying more resources to support the FCA cases involving HHS programs. "It appears from Dr. Meyer’s report that HHS
is spending around $10 million a year to support the litigation
effort despite the fact that the Office of the Inspector General
receives about $160 million a year from the Health Care Fraud
and Abuse Control program established by Congress in 1996. In
light of the return received from money invested, in False
Claims Act cases, the OIG should substantially increase its
contribution to the litigation effort." |
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