FILE - In this Jan. 16, 2013 file photo, President Barack Obama, accompanied by Vice President Joe Biden, talks about proposals to reduce gun violence, in the South Court Auditorium at the White House in Washington. This is what “Forward” looks like. Fast forward, even. President Barack Obama’s campaign slogan is springing to life in a surge of executive directives and agency rulemaking touching many of the affairs of government. They are shaping the cost and quality of health plans, the contents of the school cafeteria, the front lines of future combat, the price of coal. They are the leading edge of Obama’s ambition to take on climate change in ways that may be unachievable in legislation. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)
Govt: $4.2B recovered in probing health care fraud
Published: 04:24:50 PM, Mon 11 February 2013 UTC
WASHINGTON (AP) — The government says it recovered almost $8 for each dollar it spent investigating health care fraud over the past three years, including a record $4.2 billion last year.
The $7.90 average return on investment is the highest in the 16-year history of the Health Care Fraud and Abuse Program. Since 1997, the program — a joint effort of the departments of Justice and Health and Human Services — has returned more than $23 billion to the Medicare trust funds.
Overall, the Justice Department opened more than 1,100 criminal health care fraud investigations last year involving 2,148 potential defendants. More than 800 defendants were convicted of health care fraud-related crimes during the year and the department opened nearly 900 new civil investigations.
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