Eight Miami-Area Residents Charged in $22 Million Medicare Fraud Scheme Involving Home Health Car...(tant U.S. Attorney Ted L. Radway of the ...),Health

The case was brought as part of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, supervised by the Criminal Division's Fraud Section and Acting U.S. Attorney Sloman of the Southern District of Florida. Since strike force operations began in March 2007, 115 cases including 257 defendants have been indicted. Collectively, these defendants are alleged to have fraudulently billed the Medicare program for more than $600 million.

The joint DOJ-HHS Medicare Fraud Strike Force is a multi-agency team of federal, state and local investigators designed to combat Medicare fraud through the use of Medicare data analysis techniques and an increased focus on community policing. In May 2009, the Department of Justice and HHS announced the Health Care Fraud Prevention & Enforcement Action Team (HEAT), a joint effort to prevent fraud and enforce current anti-fraud laws around the country. As part of the HEAT initiative, Medicare Fraud Strike Force operations were expanded from South Florida and Los Angeles to Detroit and Houston. To learn more about the HEAT initiative, go to: www.hhs.gov/stopmedicarefraud.