The Committee members, witnesses, and their testimonies, where available, were:
Members Present
Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT), Ranking Member Orrin Hatch (R-UT), and Senators Tom Carper (D-DE), Tom Coburn (R-OK), Charles Grassley (R-IA), Bill Nelson (D-FL), and Ron Wyden (D-OR) participated in the hearing.
Witnesses
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The Honorable Daniel Levinson, Inspector General, Office of Inspector General, Department of Health and Human Services, Washington, D.C.
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The Honorable Wifredo A. Ferrer, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Miami, Florida
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Dr. Peter Budetti, Deputy Administrator and Director of the Center for Program Integrity, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Department of Health and Human Services, Washington, D.C.
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Ms. Kathleen King, Director, Health Care, United States Government Accountability Office, Washington, D.C.
During the Q&A session, the Senators asked various questions about the biggest fraud-producing areas in health care and government efforts to prevent and detect rather than “pay and chase” alleged fraud. Of note, Senator Hatch’s statement set the tone for many of the questions that leveled criticism at CMS’s failure to implement any moratoria on new providers in certain industries or surety bonds for home health agencies, and the lack of results from data analysis initiatives aimed at catching fraudsters earlier in the course of their schemes.
Overall, the government continues to be under significant pressure to deliver results under its strengthened health care fraud enforcement powers under the ACA. And Senator Coburn’s assertion that the government should emphasize the potential jail time providers could face if convicted of fraud may have set the stage for further fraud takedowns and longer sentences in health care fraud cases. The attorneys in our Health Care Enforcement Defense Group (HCEDG) recently published a three-part year in review series on important trends in this area, and the first quarterly report building upon this series will be released soon.
