Government efforts to fight health-care fraud would get a $70 million boost under the Trump administration’s proposed budget blueprint for fiscal year 2018.
The March 16 proposal would provide $751 million in discretionary funding for the Health Care Fraud and Abuse Control account, $70 million more than what was in the annualized 2017 continuing resolution. The increase comes despite an overall $15 billion cut in funding for the Department of Health and Human Services. The HCFAC program coordinates federal, state and local law enforcement activities related to health-care fraud and abuse.
The proposed funding increase represents a commitment by the administration to continue supporting the Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team (HEAT) model, but questions remain regarding Medicaid fraud enforcement, Ellyn Sternfield, a health-care attorney with Mintz Levin in Washington, told Bloomberg BNA. The HEAT model is an anti-fraud collaboration between the Departments of Justice and the HHS.
Source: Trump Budget Would Boost Spending to Fight Medicare, Medicaid Fraud | Bloomberg BNA