Grassley Urges Medicare Officials to Find Dishonest Suppliers

M E M O R A N D U M

TO:    Reporters and Editors

FR:    Jill Kozeny, 202/224-1308

RE:    Medicare Supplier Improper Billing

DA:    March 6, 2007

Sen. Chuck Grassley, Ranking Member of the Committee on Finance, issued the
statement below about a new report by the Government Accountability Office titled:
MEDICARE Improvements Needed to Address Improper Payments for Medical Equipment and
Supplies (GAO-07-59).  Sen. Grassley requested this report as part of his ongoing oversight of
Medicare spending and program administration.  The Government Accountability Office
recommends in its report that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services require its
contractors to develop automated prepayment controls to identify potentially improper claims
when supplier billing reaches atypical levels and consider adopting the most cost-effective
controls of other contractors.

Sen. Grassley’s comment:

“This report underscores the need for Medicare program officials to make sure the
contractors are doing their jobs.  By pro-actively identifying suspicious billing, dishonest
suppliers can be caught and the fraud stopped before even more money is scammed  Most
suppliers of medical equipment like leg braces and glucose test strips are honest, but the bad
actors cost the program $700 million every year.”

A pdf copy of the report is attached to this memo.

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