Lax oversight risks millions of Medicare dollars

AP/Yahoo News, August 4, 2008

The government is putting millions of Medicare dollars at risk by authorizing fictitious sellers of medical supplies to submit reimbursement claims with only limited review, congressional investigators say. The study by the Government Accountability Office sought to follow up on oversight gaps that have plagued the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services since at least 2005. Roughly $1 billion of the $10 billion in annual Medicare payments the government makes for medical equipment are later deemed improper.