| Feds gain power over billions in Medicare fraud |
USA TODAY: Proposed regulations being unveiled today seek to crack down on Medicare and Medicaid fraud by subjecting operators of certain medical firms to fingerprinting and stopping payments when credible fraud allegations are made, documents show.
The rules would give federal health officials key powers to identify fraud early and reduce the estimated $55 billion in improper payments made each year in the Medicare and Medicaid programs, said Peter Budetti, director of the new anti-fraud office at the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
“Our initiative will allow us to go beyond what we’ve always called ‘pay and chase’ and to actually have the tools and mechanisms to prevent much of the fraud we’ve seen in recent years,” Budetti said in an interview Sunday with USA TODAY… (more)
