Fraud Waste And Abuse Training
Fraud is generally defined as knowingly and willfully executing, or attempting to execute, a scheme or artifice to defraud any health care benefit program or to obtain (by means of false or fraudulent pretenses representations, or promises) any of the money or property owned by, or under the custody or control of, any health care benefit program. (18 U.S.C. § 1347).
Waste is over utilization of services or other practices that, directly or indirectly, result in unnecessary costs to the health care system, including the Medicare and Medicaid programs. It is not generally considered to be caused by criminally negligent actions, but by the misuse of resources.
Abuse includes any action(s) that may, directly or indirectly, result in one or more of the following:
- Unnecessary costs to the health care system, including the Medicare and Medicaid programs
- Improper payment for services
- Payment for services that fail to meet professionally recognized standards of care
- Services that are medically unnecessary
- Abuse involves payment for items or services when there is no legal entitlement to that payment and the entity (e.g. health care provider or supplier) has not knowingly and/or intentionally misrepresented facts to obtain payment.
- Abuse cannot always be easily be identified, because what is “abuse” versus “fraud” depends on specific facts and circumstances, intent, and prior knowledge, and available evidence, among other factors.
The CMS Fraud, Waste and Abuse training guide for 2013 can be accessed here.
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