Money Well Spent
Well, this is one time that money has been well spent--as well as recovered. In an unprecedented achievement, federal officials have announced that they recovered more than $4.1 billion from Medicare and Medicaid fraud-stopping efforts for the fiscal year of 2011.
Attorney General Eric Holder announced yesterday in a conference that the latest tally has resulted from the Health Care Fraud and Abuse Control Program. According to Holder`s report, last year the government won or negotiated fraud judgments that totaled $2.4 billion; that, combined with other fees and results the Treasury Department/Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services received, brings the sum to $4.1 billion, collectively. The Medicare Trust Fund alone received approximately $2.5 billion.
Federal officials opened a whopping 1,100 criminal health care fraud investigations that resulted in the charging of more than 1,400 defendants with the conviction of 700 people. The Department of Justice was responsible for almost 1,000 new civil investigations and cases that lead to the recovery of $2.4 billion under the False Claim Act. Since its inception in 1997, the return on investment is $5.1 for every dollar spent. These strike forces have resulted in (on average) $7.2 back to the tax payers for the past three fiscal years.