Crackdown on Health Care Fraud lead to Arrests in Miami
A recent crackdown on heath care fraud in Miami, a health care fraud hot spot, yielded 38 arrests. The accused were charged with billing Medicare for prosthetic limbs, drugs, and air mattresses among other items. They submitted $142 million in bills for unnecessary or nonexistent equipment and supplies and used funds for personal items such as a $200,000 Rolls Royce.
The Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt, visited several of the businesses late last year and described his shock at peering into office fronts in a Miami area strip mall and seeing little more than a chair and a few pieces of equipment on the wall. He called the fraud "blatant."
According to a recent release from the Department of Justice, the Medicare Fraud Strike Force is a joint task force of federal prosecutors supervised by the Criminal Divisions Fraud Section in Washington and the Office of U.S. Attorney Alexander Acosta of the Southern District of Florida.
Let's hope there was a whistleblower involved in these arrests and revelation of the $142 million in over-billing. It is always a good thing to have a private citizen act as a whistleblower and receive recognition for their efforts in the fight against Medicare and health care fraud. It is good to know that we have such a strong task force in our own backyard.
Click here to read more from the Department of Justice and the Washington Post on this Southern Crackdown on Health Care Fraud.
