Federal fraud program nabs $1.47B

Last year was a good year for federal healthcare fraud investigators, who expect to recover a total of $1.47 billion from fraud cases filed in fiscal 2005, according to a report in political newspaper The Hill. Working under the auspices of the federal Health Care Fraud and Abuse Control Program, which began in 1997, the Office of the Inspector General, Department of Justice and Department of Health and Human Services have recovered a total of $8.85 billion to date, according to a report released last week. Recovered funds are largely deposited in the Medicare trust fund, though in some cases they're shared with Medicaid programs where those programs are affected. Defendants in the 2005 cases included GlaxoSmithKline, pharmacy-benefit manager AdvancePCS, HealthSouth and kidney-dialysis provider Gambro Healthcare.

Learn about the feds' anti-fraud efforts:
- read this item from The Hill

Related Article
Former HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy found guilty of fraud. Article