The acting head of Medicare told a congressional subcommittee that Medicare fraud costs billions of dollars each year. Leslie Norwalk said, “The fraudulent business practices of unscrupulous durable medical equipment, orthotics, prosthetics and supplies suppliers continue to cost the Medicare program billions of dollars,” adding that CMS “has seen a marked increase in fraud and abuse activities over the past few years that can be directly tied to provider enrollment issues.” Her remarks were summarized at kaisernetwork.org.
Stuart Wright, Deputy Inspector General for Evaluation and Inspections at the Department of Health and Human Services, also testified before the Subcommittee on Health of the U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
Mr. Wright described how the OIG identifies Medicare program vulnerabilities, using the office’s experience with durable medical equipment as a specific illustration.