FRAUD ENFORCERS WARY OF DRUG BILLS.(Brief Article)

Publication: Medicine & Health

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COPYRIGHT 2001 Thomson Financial Inc.

Another consideration that may be getting too little attention from lawmakers is whether a drug benefit can be engineered up front to avoid excess spending due to waste, fraud, and abuse, according to Lew Morris, assistant inspector general for the Department of Health and Human Services. Getting such protections built into a Medicare drug bill up front is a high priority for the Office of Inspector General, where memories are still fresh of how wasteful and fraudulent billing wildly accelerated cost growth after enactment of other new Medicare benefits, such as home health and community-based mental health services, Morris says.

To prevent a similar outcome, legislation should include "clear and tight definitions" of...

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