Southern accent.Feds crack down on fraud in Florida GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS ARE JOINING FORCES to crack down on Medicare and Medicaid Medicare and Medicaid U.S. government programs in effect since 1966. Medicare covers most people 65 or older and those with long-term disabilities. Part A, a hospital insurance plan, also pays for home health visits and hospice care. fraud in Florida. The U.S. departments of Health and Human Services Noun 1. Health and Human Services - the United States federal department that administers all federal programs dealing with health and welfare; created in 1979 Department of Health and Human Services, HHS and Justice, along with state and local law enforcement entities, will open a multi-agency office in Miami to centralize record keeping and coordinate investigations. The government plans to spend $3 million this year to lease the facility and hire staff. If successful, the effort will be duplicated in other states. During a May 17 press conference to announce the initiative, U.S. Senator Bob Graham (D-Fla.) said Medicare fraud Medicare fraud Medifraud Medical practice Any unlawful act which results in the inappropriate billing of Medicare for services by a health care provider–eg, physicians, hospitals and affiliated providers. See Medicare. has reached "epidemic proportions" in Florida, with 20 percent of an estimated $17.5 billion this year expected to be lost to fraud. Nationally, HHS HHS Department of Health and Human Services. estimates that the $200 billion Medicare program will lose about 10 percent of its expenditures to fraud. Rose Crum-Johnson, HCFA's Region IV administrator, says the new initiative "moves to the next level our activities to deter Medicare fraud and abuse. There are too many health care providers in the state who obviously are in the business for the wrong reasons." HCFA HCFA abbr. Health Care Financing Administration HCFA, n.pr See Health Care Financing Administration. will not add staff to its Miami office, but the U.S. Attorney's office for the Southern District of Florida will add three prosecutors and two investigators to its Medicare anti-fraud staff. The Florida Medicaid Fraud Medicaid fraud The fraudulent billing of Medicaid by physicians or other health care providers, especially international medical graduates and psychiatrists. See Medicaid. Control Unit, which polices the state's $7 billion-a-year Medicaid program, will add 15 staff members, including investigators, lawyers, and auditors, to its current staff of 100. The unit is currently focusing on nursing homes, according to director Mark Schlein, because they are among the worst offenders. Ed Towey of the Florida Health Care Association says he hopes nursing homes and assisted living as·sist·ed living n. A living arrangement in which people with special needs, especially older people with disabilities, reside in a facility that provides help with everyday tasks such as bathing, dressing, and taking medication. facilities are not targeted unfairly. Such facilities in Florida have rarely been found guilty of fraud, he says. |
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