By Mike Daly
Retired CEO Baystate Health System
60 Minutes warned viewers last night that what they were about to watch would likely raise their blood pressure and they were right!
If you missed the story, you can take a look at it here. It’s an expose on Medicare fraud – an inside look at what is now estimated to be a $60 billion a year business.
A top Justice Department prosecutor tells the show that criminals have figured out that rather than stealing $100,000 or $200,000, they can steal $100 million. They are setting up bogus medical supply companies and are billing Medicare for services and procedures that are in reality never delivered to any patients.
In South Florida there are currently thousands of questionable medical equipment companies potentially operating, but Medicare has just THREE field inspectors looking into the fraud. Kim Brandt, Medicare's director of program integrity, says “our oversight budget has been extremely limited.”
Sound the warning bells!
How in the world can we expect the government to once again create and run this type of healthcare insurance program if it can’t successfully audit the one it is already managing?
Shouldn’t government officials learn how to manage and audit Medicare first in order to avoid a future debacle of this magnitude?
At the hospital system I was in charge of, we had 15 internal auditors at any given time making sure our procedures and practices were followed to a “T.” Hospitals are constantly criticized for various policies and procedures, yet the government can’t even establish a basic auditing system for a program providing care to 46 million elderly and disabled Americans.
I call for a timeout! If we truly have $60 billion in Medicare fraud, shouldn’t we understand and correct that problem first before we take on more responsibility?
Just a thought!
