'Going door to door to sniff out fraud' We must!

Rampant Medicare fraud suspected in Miami
Miami may be ground zero,however this has been going on for years!

By Julie Appleby, USA TODAY
Home health care costs charged to Medicare in the Miami area have risen 20 times the national average in the past five years, prompting a federal investigation of suspected fraudulent billing.
Miami-Dade County is on track to cost Medicare a projected $1.3 billion for home health care services this fiscal year, up 1,300% in just five years, government data show.

SLEUTHS: Going door to door to sniff out fraud
Investigators suspect that fraud is helping to drive the increase because the population of Medicare beneficiaries in the county grew only 10.2% between 2004 and 2007, the latest government data show.

"You definitely have a problem down here," says Randall Culp, an FBI supervisory special agent who oversees a team that works with a Medicare Fraud Strike Force in Miami.

In South Florida, investigators say, some agencies are billing Medicare for millions of dollars in services that are unnecessary, overused or not provided at all.

Investigators elsewhere are paying attention because South Florida is a bellwether for scams that later surface in other large cities, such as Los Angeles and Houston. Scams involving fake AIDS treatments, for example, popped up in Detroit and several other cities after a crackdown in Miami, Culp and others say.

"Typically, Miami is ground zero. Then we see it move to the other high-fraud areas," says Suzanne Bradley, an investigator with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Service's field office in Miami.

Home health agencies send nurses and aides to assist homebound elderly and disabled beneficiaries. Nationally, Medicare expects to spend $16.5 billion on home health care this year, up 65% from five years ago.

Medicare spent six times more on home health care services in Miami-Dade County during the first five months of this year than in Los Angeles County, where the Medicare population is three times larger, agency data show.

"It jumps off the page as out of proportion," says Kirk Ogrosky, deputy chief in the Criminal Division's Fraud Section of the Justice Department.

Today, acting Medicare chief Kerry Weems says he will announce new anti-fraud efforts, some targeted at home care agencies in Miami.

"It does affect everyone because everyone is paying into Medicare," says Peggy Sposato, a nurse investigator with the U.S. attorney in the Southern District of Florida, who combs through data looking for unusual billings.