Bipartisan Finance Committee Report Details Policy Recommendations to Combat Waste, Fraud & Abuse in Medicare & Medicaid

WASHINGTON – Today, five members of the Senate Finance Committee, led by Ranking Member Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.), released a detailed analysis  outlining a comprehensive overview of the policy and legislative recommendations received from 146 stakeholders in the health care community on ways to improve federal efforts to combat waste, fraud, and abuse in the Medicare and Medicaid programs. Joining Hatch and Baucus on the report are Senators Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), and Tom Carper (D-Del.).

Last year, the bipartisan group of lawmakers invited interested stakeholders to submit white papers offering recommendations and innovative solutions to improve program integrity efforts, strengthen payment reforms, and enhance fraud and abuse enforcement efforts and earlier this year issued a brief overview of the types of recommendations received and who submitted them. Today’s in-depth analysis highlights a number of policy and legislative proposals that were submitted by a variety of individual health care professionals, stakeholders, and associations.

The five primary areas of recommendations contained in the report include:

•    Improper payments;
•    Audit burden;
•    Enforcement;
•    Data management;  and
•    Beneficiary protection.

The policy recommendations included in the report will be further examined by the Finance Committee, which has jurisdiction over the Medicare and Medicaid programs, to determine whether legislative action will be pursued.  As the Senators work through this process, they continue to work with key Committees of jurisdiction, the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the Dept. of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General (HHS-OIG), and interested stakeholders.

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