Federal prosecutors filed a record number of health care fraud cases last fiscal year, perhaps reflecting the greater emphasis the government has placed on combating the crime costing taxpayers billions of dollars per year. According to Justice Department statistics obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request by a Syracuse University-based nonprofit group that tracks federal spending, staffing and enforcement activities, prosecutors pursued 377 new federal health care fraud cases in the fiscal year that ended in October. That was 3 percent more than the previous year and 7.7 percent more than five years ago.
