Whistleblowers helped authorities recover $9.3 billion from health care providers

[NRSKarenRN, BSN, RN]

found @ physicians news digest:

whistleblowers helped authorities recover at least $9.3 billion from health care providers accused of defrauding states and the federal government, according to justice department records.

the department ramped up efforts in the 1990s to combat health care fraud by using private citizens with inside knowledge of wrongdoing, while they now initiate more than 90 percent of the department's lawsuits focusing on fraud in health care, and they get between 15 percent and 25 percent of the amount recovered, reported the associated press. of the $9.3 billion recovered between 1996 and 2005, whistle blowers got more than $1 billion, according to analysts, and while the number of claims pursued has dropped in recent years, recovery amounts have soared - jumping from about $10 million a case in 2002 to $50 million by 2005 - because of a late addition to the cast of defendants: pharmaceutical manufacturers, the associated press added.

associated press, september 2, 2008

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