Home Health & Hospice Week

Criminals find Medicare fraud lucrative. The fact that federal fraud fighters recover $4 billion a year in false claims sounds pretty impressive -- until you consider that Medicare and Medicaid fraudsters rake in an estimated $60 billion a year. Big potential profits are why organized crime is moving in on health care, explained Health and Human Services Deputy Inspector General Tim Menke in a recent NPR interview with Scott Simon. Criminals see health care fraud as "lucrative" and "safe," according to Menke. "Why rob a bank and risk getting shot when you can click a mouse and bill Medicare or Medicaid, basically lie on some forms, and make millions of dollars doing so?" he said. When Simon asked if health care fraud attracts "Tony Soprano" types, Menke countered that it's not just stereotypical Italian mobsters getting in on the act -- but Armenians, Cubans, Nigerians, Russians,Ukrainians, "you name it across the board. [...]