A recent report by the National Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services found that Medicare fraud is on the rise, with an average of 11,500 cases each year.
The problem is especially worrisome for older adults and Medicare Advantage enrollees, who have been left to foot the bill for fraudulent billing.
“We have to be vigilant about detecting and stopping fraud in Medicare, and we can do it with the tools that we have,” said NCCMS Commissioner Elizabeth Nash.
She added that Medicare must improve its ability to detect fraud and to track payments.
Medicare fraud cases increase the likelihood of fraud being detected, because patients often don’t realize the magnitude of the fraud.
In a survey of Medicare Advantage patients and providers in June, a survey found that the majority of Medicare beneficiaries had never heard of fraud.
And because the federal government does not collect data on Medicare fraud, it’s difficult to know whether fraud is increasing or decreasing.
The number of Medicare fraud incidents, cases, and investigations has declined over the past decade.
But Medicare Fraud Detection and Mitigation (MDFM) remains a priority.
The goal of the program is to improve Medicare fraud detection, detection and prevention.
The agency has partnered with some of the nation’s top law firms to help identify and prosecute Medicare fraud.
The fraud prevention efforts are led by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which has launched a number of initiatives, including a partnership with the Justice Department to help Medicare fraud investigators track and investigate Medicare fraud for the first time.
MDFMs fraud team has been busy investigating Medicare fraud from a number different angles.
The program began with a small task force of about two dozen investigators.
This team, known as a “coordinating team,” has helped with the initial investigation of Medicare Fraud, which resulted in a $1 million grant from the government.
The task force has also made progress in identifying Medicare Advantage fraud cases, helping with cases that involved fraud in a different state.
In January 2018, the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta conducted a survey to determine the extent to which Medicare Advantage customers were involved in Medicare fraud in the past year.
As of June 30, there were 6,000 Medicare Advantage claims that were identified by the bank, according to the survey.
The survey also found that approximately 1 in 4 Medicare Advantage beneficiaries had received Medicare fraud notices.
The bank has been working closely with the Department of Health and Human Services to implement its fraud prevention program, the NCCS said.
“The NCCs task force, the coordination team, and other federal partners are working together to combat Medicare fraud across the Medicare system,” said Dr. Richard Haines, the lead investigator for the Medicare Fraud Mitigation Initiative.
The NCCM’s efforts include: The task force is focused on detecting and preventing Medicare fraud by identifying fraudulent payments, fraudulent claims, fraudulent billing, and fraudulent billing methods.
The team has established a website to track Medicare fraud trends.
The coalition also includes an automated, computerized, nationwide database that helps identify Medicare frauds, and has created a fraud-detection training curriculum for law enforcement and the public.
In addition to the work by the coordination group, the coalition has focused on providing training to law enforcement personnel on detecting Medicare fraud issues, the program’s head of fraud prevention said.
The training materials are available online and in law enforcement offices across the country.
NCCMS has also launched a national registry of Medicare patients and beneficiaries, and it is currently working to expand the registry to include individuals enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans, which are not subject to the Medicare fraud prevention provisions of the law.
