In the largest crackdown on medical fraud cases in history, the U.S. Medical Fraud Strike Force charged 301 people with varying degrees of medical fraud offences, following a sting operation. The announcement was made by the justice department and the details were shared by the Attorney General Loretta Lynch. Last year, a total 243 people had been charged in the same offences and the damages to the government had amounted to $712; however this time the number has spiked to 301 with the total losses amounting to a jaw dropping $900 million.
A report on Bloomberg went into the grim details of how the government was defrauded, "Takedowns so far this year have involved medical clinics, home health-care services and shell companies that submitted fraudulent Medicare and Medicaid claims for tens of millions of dollars at a time, Attorney General Loretta Lynch, Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell and other U.S. officials announced Wednesday. In one example, three individuals were indicted for operating clinics that gave drug addicts prescriptions for controlled substances and narcotics and then billed Medicare for $36 million in fraudulent claims for services that were never provided." What would come as an even more disturbing news for the public is that among the 301 people who have been charged, 61 belong to the medical profession including doctors and nurses.
Loretta Lynch spoke to journalists in Washington today and said, "Health care fraud is not an abstract violation or benign offense. It is a serious crime.The wrongdoers that we pursue in these operations seek to use public funds for private enrichment. They target real people -- many of them in need of significant medical care." She added, "The Department of Justice is determined to continue working to ensure that the American people know that their health care system works for them -- and them alone," The Justice Department released a statement as well and stated, "This is an example of how purported health-care providers prey upon and compound the drug addictions of Medicare beneficiaries in order to steal more money from the Medicare program,"
