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5 Things You Need to Know About Medicare and Medicaid Fraud Reporting

Medicare and Medicaid fraud reporting—what you need to know about what to look for:

  1. Medicare and Medicaid fraud takes place on a massive scale.  Medicare is a government insurance program that provides health care to 46 million elderly and disabled Americans.  Every year, nearly half a trillion dollars are paid out in Medicare benefits.  Unfortunately, fraudsters have found numerous ways to steal from these public funds, with Medicare fraud now being estimated to cost the government $60 billion a year. 
  2. There are a multitude of methods for committing Medicare and Medicaid fraud.  Examples of this fraud include billing for services not rendered, billing for unnecessary services, kickbacks, double billing, and various other unauthorized billings.
  3. You can help fight this fraud by participating in Medicare and Medicaid fraud reporting.  It is important for Medicare and Medicaid recipients to check their billing invoices in order to make sure that the statements are not listing services and supplies that were never received.  When you receive health care services, it is a good idea to record the dates on a calendar and save the receipts and statements you get from providers to check for fraud.  You can then compare this information to your Medicaid statements to make sure that neither you nor Medicaid was billed for services or supplies that you did not receive. 
  4. You may receive a financial reward for Medicare and Medicaid fraud reporting through the filing of a Qui Tam lawsuit.  The False Claims Act (31 U.S.C. Sections 3729-33) provides “whistleblower” incentives to encourage private individuals to report fraud on the government.  The Act permits an individual with knowledge of past or present government fraud to sue on behalf of the federal government to recover civil penalties and damages. The whistleblower may be entitled to as much as 30% of the recovered proceeds. 
  5. PHMY attorneys specialize in whistleblower lawsuits for Medicaid and Medicare fraud reporting.  Our attorneys can guide your whistleblower lawsuit from start to finish.  We know how and where to file, and we have the broad range of federal and state contacts to prosecute your case effectively.  Fighting fraud is what we do, and we will invest the time and resources required to win your case.