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Home / Blog Health Care Fraud / Historic Number of Medicare Fraud Arrests Made in June

Historic Number of Medicare Fraud Arrests Made in June

July 2, 2015

Medicare Fraud Schemes - Behn & WyetznerThis June, federal officials announced  the largest coordinated criminal Medicare fraud action and the first large-scale effort  focused on Medicare Part D fraud  in the history of the U.S. Justice Department.  The Medicare Fraud Strike Force levelled charges against 243 individuals across the country accused of falsely billing $712 million to Medicare in a number of separate schemes. Those charged with fraud under the False Claims Act included 46 doctors, nurses and other licensed medical professionals.

More than 44 of those arrested were charged with Medicare fraud related to Medicare Part D, which is Medicare’s drug benefit program.

HHS Inspector General Daniel Levinson emphasized that costs in Medicare Part D reached $121 billion last year.

Prosecuting this type of qui tam fraud in Part D can sometimes be more difficult than in other areas of Medicare because Part D payments are capitated, rather than fee-for-service.

The 243 individuals accused of violations of the False Claims Act in this federal effort to crack down on fraud were charged with a variety of crimes, including conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud, violating the anti-kickback statute, money laundering and aggravated identity theft.  The fraudulent schemes occurred in home healthcare, psychotherapy, physical and occupational therapy, durable medical equipment and pharmacy fraud.

The cases are being prosecuted and investigated by Medicare Fraud Strike Force teams from the Fraud Section of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and from U.S. attorney’s offices around the country.

Filed Under: Health Care Fraud, News, Pharmacy Fraud

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Linda Wyetzner is a founding partner of Behn & Wyetzner, Chartered. She is a seasoned trial lawyer and negotiator, currently specializing in representing citizens who have reported fraud under the qui tam provisions of the federal and state False Claims Acts.  Ms. Wyetzner was a lead attorney in three groundbreaking pharmaceutical qui tam cases against Omnicare, CVS and Walgreens. Ms. Wyetzner has substantial experience with false claims act cases involving fraud in a diverse range of fields including fraud in the pharmaceutical, healthcare, telecommunications and defense contracting industries as well as NIH grant fraud.  Read more.

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