President Barack Obama's fiscal year 2017 budget includes seven fraud, waste and abuse policies that would save $3.4 billion over the next decade, according to the White House.
Included among the policies to cut fraud, waste and abuse in the Medicare and Medicaid programs is a proposal to restructure the Recovery Audit Contractor (RAC) program by allowing the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to pay RAC contractors after the second-level of appeals, and by requiring RACs to maintain a surety bond to cover overturned decisions. The president also proposed policies requiring states to suspend Medicaid payments when there is a significant risk of fraud, requiring prior authorization for power mobility devices and advanced imaging, supporting investigations into beneficiary abuse and neglect in non-institutional healthcare settings, investing in the Medicaid Integrity Program, ensuring federal and state governments can share data algorithms, and giving the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services greater authority to reject claims for certain items when there is evidence of fraud and abuse. Budget (p. 62)