Feds find less healthcare waste in wake of sequestration cuts

The federal government recovered about $1 billion less in wasted healthcare dollars over the last year, which officials say is partly the result of deep sequestration cuts.

Healthcare investigators recouped about $3.2 billion over the last fiscal year, which falls far short of the previous two years’ totals, according to a joint report Thursday from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Department of Justice (DOJ).

{mosads}More than 700 people were convicted of healthcare fraud-related crimes this year. HHS counted 867 criminal actions related to Medicare and Medicaid and 529 civil actions that involved false claims.

About 4,000 people were also barred from receiving Medicare benefits, according to HHS’s figures.

This year’s job was tougher after budgets shrank for agencies like the DOJ, HHS and the FBI during last year’s sequestration cuts, the report states. The healthcare fraud program lost a combined $21.5 million from their previous year’s budgets, leaving investigators with a total budget of $571.7 million.

Over the last three years, the investigators have seen a $7.70 return on every $1 invested in the program, the report stated. Overall, the healthcare investigation team has recovered nearly $30 billion since it was launched in 2009 by Attorney General Eric Holder.

As spending on federal programs like Medicare and Medicare continues to rise each year, officials have sought new ways to combat fraud and identity abuse.

HHS Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell touted new screening measures under ObamaCare. Under the law, all 1.5 million Medicare providers and suppliers must answer questions about their involvement with the program by the end of March.

So far, the government has deactivated 470,000 enrollments “to prevent certain providers from re-enrolling and billing the Medicare program,” Burwell said in a release.