WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The US health agency’s Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) needs an anti-fraud strategy to protect more than $1 trillion in annualized expenditures at risk of fraud, the General Accounting Office said in a report.
"By developing a fraud risk assessment and using that assessment to create an antifraud strategy and evaluation approach, CMS could better ensure that it is addressing the full portfolio of risks and strategically targeting the most-significant fraud risks facing Medicare and Medicaid," the report said on Tuesday.
The total cost of Medicare and Medicaid along with other healthcare insurance programs is around $1 trillion, which is all at risk, the report added.
While GAO praised CMS for some of its anti-fraud initiatives it found fault with the lack of consistent fraud-awareness training for its for employees, the report added.
