Sens. Martinez and Cornyn Target Medicare Fraud

Press Release

SENS. MARTINEZ AND CORNYN TARGET MEDICARE FRAUD
Senators introduce fraud prevention effort

U.S. Senator Mel Martinez (R-FL) today joined with Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) in introducing a measure to detect and prevent Medicare fraud. The Senior and Taxpayers Obligation Protection Act (STOP Act) will require the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to put procedures in place that will help stop Medicare fraud before it starts.

"Medicare fraud wastes taxpayer dollars, hurts legitimate businesses and shrinks the important resources that should be going to care for our seniors and disabled," Martinez said. "Our bill will give CMS and HHS the tools to stop fraud at the front end rather than having the Department of Justice get involved at the back end after the fraud has occurred - from pay and chase to detect and prevent."

"Each year, roughly $30 to $60 billion a year in taxpayer dollars is wasted because of Medicare fraud and abuse. This hurts not only taxpayers, but Medicare recipients and legitimate providers as a result. Congress should do everything in its power to eliminate fraud and abuse. This legislation we are introducing moves our efforts from a ‘pay and chase' model to one that takes proactive, tangible steps to stop fraud before it begins. I hope my colleagues will join us in supporting this important effort to protect taxpayers and Medicare recipients," Sen. John Cornyn said.

In particular, the STOP Act would require the Secretary of HHS to implement procedures to change the current system of using social security numbers as the Medicare Beneficiary Identifier (MBI), thus reducing fraud and identity theft among seniors. In addition, HHS will implement a procedure for verifying the accuracy of physician charges. This measure also establishes prepaid fraud detection methods, which include pre-enrollment site visits for high risk areas and prepayment claim edits to detect submissions that are most likely fraudulent.

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