A fact sheet released by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) outlines its budget requests for fiscal year 2016, which includes $43 million in additional funding to address violent crime, drugs and healthcare fraud. Although the DOJ has asked for just $1 million more in funding for healthcare fraud enforcement, the monetary bump would nearly double the $1.2 million budget the program currently utilizes.
The DOJ argued the civil division has a "longstanding track record of success in enforcing anti-fraud laws and has returned billions to the Federal Government in the past several years." The agency says it would use the additional funding to hire 15 new positions, including seven attorneys, which would manage the "increasing number of whistleblower cases and the increasing number of cases derived from innovative fraud detection tools." Fact sheet