Medicare house calls on rise in Michigan—so is fraud

Medicare spending on doctors who make house calls rose to $236 million in 2012 — a 40% increase since 2006. But the effort to help aging patients with limited mobility get medical care has been riddled with fraud due to lax regulations in some areas of the U.S. Nowhere is this more pronounced than in Michigan, where nearly a fifth of all the spending on Medicare home visits nationwide takes place. In 2012, physicians in Michigan received Medicare funds for home visits equal to 42 other states combined, a USA TODAY data analysis reveals. The result: more than $60 million in fraudulent billing by Michigan doctors in the past few years.