(Bloomberg) -- The U.S. charged 300 people this year in aseries of medical fraud sting operations, the most ever,for allegedly running scams that bilked the government out of $900million.
|Takedowns so far this year have involved medical clinics, homehealth-care services and shell companies that submitted fraudulentMedicare and Medicaid claims for tensof millions of dollars at a time, Attorney General Loretta Lynch,Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia MathewsBurwell and other U.S. officials announced Wednesday.
|In one example, three individuals were indicted for operatingclinics that gave drug addicts prescriptions for controlledsubstances and narcotics and then billed Medicare for $36 millionin fraudulent claims for services that were never provided.
|"This is an example of how purported health-care providers preyupon and compound the drug addictions of Medicare beneficiaries inorder to steal more money from the Medicare program," according toa statement from the Justice Department.
|The takedowns represent continuing efforts by U.S. officials tocombat health-care fraud costing thegovernment billions.
|Last June, the Justice Department charged 243 people, including46 doctors, nurses and other medical professionals, with defraudingthe Medicare system of $712 million through false billing.
|Copyright 2018 Bloomberg. All rightsreserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten,or redistributed.
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