The Government Accountability office is reminding Congress of home care’s reputation for fraud once again.
In a new report, the GAO points out the moratoria on new home health providers in the fraud hot spots of Chicago, Miami, Fort Lauderdale, De-troit, Dallas, and Houston. “These moratoria are scheduled to be in effect until July 2014, unless CMS extends or lifts them,” the GAO points out in the report, “Medicare Fraud: Further Actions Need-ed to Address Fraud, Waste, and Abuse.” Fraud risk factors that contribute to the decision to impose a moratorium include disproportionate number of pro-viders relative to beneficiaries and extremely high utilization, the GAO notes in the report.