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AARP campaign encourages members to report Medicare fraud
Fraudulent charges and unintentional billing errors cost the U.S. health care system billions of dollars each year.
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The American Association of Retired Persons, the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Justice have joined in a new campaign, “Who Pays? You Pay,” aimed at encouraging AARP members to report Medicare fraud.
AARP advises senior citizens to inspect their Medi care statements for errors such as double billing, charges for services never performed or a Medi care billing charge for higher-cost items or services than those provided to the patient.
The campaign asks Medicare recipients to review billing statements according to three basic criteria:
Was the service or product received?
Was the service or product ordered by the patient’s doctor?
To the best of the patient’s knowledge, is the service or product relevant to his or her diagnosis or treatment? (Medicare service recipients are directed to ask their doctors about any unfamiliar procedure or test.)
The campaign acknowledges that not all mistakes are fraudulent; however, unintentional billing errors overlooked by auditors cost the U.S. health care system billions of dollars each year.
If a report of Medicare fraud leads to an investigation, the senior citizen can receive an award of $1,000.
For Your Information:
- The AARP “Who Pays? You Pay” campaign can be reached at (800) 447-8477; Web site: www.aarp.org/confacts/health/medfraud.html.
- For more information on detecting and reporting Medicare fraud, contact Medicare at (800) 633-4227 or visit its Web site: http://www.medicare.gov/FraudAbuse/Overview.asp.