HIV/AIDS Medicare fraud is rampant, panelists say
Miami Herald, September 25th, 2006
A panel of experts agreed Saturday that fraud in billing Medicare for HIV/AIDS treatments is a massive problem.
''We're very concerned,'' said Sandra Colón, a Medicare
investigator. ''This healthcare fraud is endangering the health of our
beneficiaries.'' She said the federal agency was ''aggressively''
taking measures to stop the fraud.
Representatives of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Florida
Department of Health, Medicare and First Coast Service Options spoke
during a roundtable at the 2006 U.S. Conference on AIDS, held at the
Diplomat Hotel in Hollywood.
The participants described how recruiters seek out persons with
HIV/AIDS who have Medicare cards for disability at homeless shelters,
assisted living facilities.
An FBI agent who did not want to be identified said recruiters for
fraud clinics even go to meetings of Narcotics Anonymous, Alcoholics
Anonymous and mental health facilities. She called this an ``egregious
fraud.''
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