U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius have announced the creation of a new interagency effort, the Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team (HEAT).
Launched Wednesday as the government's latest effort to combat Medicare fraud, the HEAT team will include senior officials from the Department of Justice and HHS who, officials said, will build upon and strengthen existing programs to combat fraud and invest new resources and technology to prevent fraud, waste and abuse before it happens.
Holder and Sebelius also announced the expansion of Strike Force team operations to Detroit and Houston. Medicare Fraud Strike Forces, currently in operation in south Florida and Los Angeles, fight Medicare fraud on a targeted local level.
“With this announcement, we raise the stakes on healthcare fraud by launching a new effort with increased tools, resources and a sustained focus by senior-level leadership,” said Holder.
“It’s time to bring the fight against fraud into the 21st Century and put the resources on the streets and out into the community to protect the American taxpayers and lower the cost of healthcare,” added Sebelius.
The HEAT Team’s efforts will include:
- increasing training for providers on Medicare compliance, offering providers the resources and the knowledge they need to help identify and prevent fraud.
- helping state Medicaid officials conduct provider audits and monitor activities to detect fraudulent activities.
- using modern technology to complete in a matter of days analysis of electronic evidence that previously took months to analyze using traditional investigative tools.
- improving data and information sharing between CMS and law enforcement to identify patterns that lead to fraud.
- strengthening program integrity activities to monitor and ensure Medicare Parts C (Medicare Advantage plans) and D (prescription drug programs) compliance and enforcement; and
- building demonstration projects focused on Durable Medical Equipment.
Holder and Sebelius also called on the American people to visit a new Web site, called Stop Medicare Fraud, to report suspected Medicare fraud.
