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Seniors Urged To Help Combat Medicare Fraud

By Paul Tuthill

http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wamc/local-wamc-970310.mp3

Springfield, MA – Health care providers, senior advocates, consumer experts and law enforcement officials from across Massachusetts met in Springfield Tuesday for a conference on preventing Medicare fraud.. WAMC's Pioneer Valley Bureau Chief Paul Tuthill reports..

Officials who administer the national healthcare program for senior citizens want the elderly, and their care givers, to help combat fraud that robs billions of dollars from the system annually. Jaye Weisman, the regional administrator for the New England Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services urges seniors to review their quarterly Medicare statements with the same care as their phone and credit card bills.
Weisman says the government recovered four billion dollars in fraudulent Medicare payments last year alone, but that may be only the tip of the iceberg
The health care reform bill signed last year by President Obama mandated a Medicare fraud crackdown. It included funding for new computer systems to flag suspicious transactions in much the same way as credit card companies and banks do.
Weisman says there is an effort to prevent fraudulent billing by identifying so-called fly-by-night or pop up providers of medical services and supplies.
There is a boots on the ground element to combating fraud called Senior Medicare Patrols. Lucilia Prates is the director of the Massachusetts Senior Medicare Patrol Program. She works through senior centers, church groups, and civic organizations to put on programs that stress the importance of being what she calls an engaged healthcare consumer.
Prates encourages people to keep a personal health care journal and compare it with their quarterly Medicare statements. The most common fraud involves multiple billings for a single procedure, and charges for services that were never performed and for equipment that is not medically un-necessary.
The conference in Springfield Tuesday brought together about 125 participants for a series of workshops .