Recently, Womble Bond Dickinson held its First Annual Health Care Fraud Symposium, a webinar designed to discuss critical healthcare fraud topics. WBD Partner Joe Whitley moderated a discussion with WBD attorneys Luke Cass, Lee Van Voorhis, Rhett DeHart, Brett Switzer and Michael Clark. This article is taken from that conversation.
Fraud is an ongoing compliance and enforcement challenge in virtually every sector, and healthcare is no exception. Even conservative estimates place the annual toll of U.S. healthcare fraud at nearly $100 billion—or three percent of the nation’s $3.6 trillion yearly healthcare expenditure. Other sources believe the U.S. could lose as much as $300 billion to healthcare fraud each year.
Recognizing this threat, the U.S. Department of Justice has made healthcare fraud a point of emphasis. Every U.S. Attorney’s office has a healthcare fraud coordinator and healthcare fraud investigations team. At the DOJ’s Main Office, federal officials have established a Healthcare Fraud Unit consisting of 70 prosecutors and “strike force” teams strategically located around the country. The strike forces bring together analytical and investigative resources of different agencies, such as the FBI, HHS, OIG, CMS, DEA, and state and local law enforcement partners.
“They cover a lot of ground with a massive allocation of resources, showing how serious health care fraud is as a nationwide problem and how much priority it's being accorded by the department,” Cass said....
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