Senators Push for More Healthcare Fraud Prevention in Health Reform

Assistant Attorney General Tony West spoke about the results of the Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Prevention Action Team—better known as "HEAT"—which is the combined HHS and Department of Justice effort announced this past May to combat healthcare fraud and abuse. Strike forces are now operating in South Florida, Los Angeles, Detroit, and Houston.

The HEAT initiative, for instance, was involved in the case last month in which Pfizer and its subsidiary agreed to pay $2.3 billion to resolve civil and criminal liability claims resulting from the promotion of certain pharmaceutical products.

But while the initiative is new, the collaborative effort has been ongoing between the two departments since 1997. During that time, more than $15 billion has been returned to the federal government, West said.

During questioning from the senators, West acknowledged that it was "important to look at the problem of fraud in healthcare as a holistic problem—not just as a public problem or not just as a public sector problem."

In the bill being introduced by Leahy and Sen. Ted Kaufman (D-DE), they were looking to increase federal antifraud spending by $20 million per year through 2016. They also call for improvements to the federal sentencing guidelines and to forfeiture, money laundering, and obstruction statutes.