In April, the Government released last year’s accomplishments for their work in Healthcare Fraud and Abuse. In 2017 $ 2.6 billion was returned to the Federal Government or paid to private persons. Specifically; $ 1.4 billion was returned to the Medicare Trust Funds and $ 406.7 million was returned to Medicaid programs. Yes, that means that over $ 1 million dollars was paid to Qui Tam relators or put into resources to continue to fight fraud and abuse.
A staggering 967 investigations were opened in 2017 resulting in criminal charges filed for 439 cases involving 720 defendants. This resulted in 639 convictions which is an impressive 88.7% conviction rate. In addition 818 civil actions were filed.
Another interesting statistic was the high number of healthcare exclusions that were published. There were a total of 1,281 healthcare exclusions. They stated that 309 of those exclusions were related to patient abuse or neglect and 972 were a result of licensure revocations.
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