Fact Sheet: Department of Justice Efforts to Combat Health Care Fraud...( WASHINGTON May 28 -- The Departm...),Health

WASHINGTON, May 28 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Department of Justice, in cooperation with the Department of Health and Human Services, has guided the enforcement efforts of the national Health Care Fraud and Abuse Control Program (HCFAC) since its inception in 1997. The program was designed to coordinate federal, state and local law enforcement on cases of health care fraud and abuse as part of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Today, the Department's efforts to investigate and prosecute the individuals and companies who commit health care fraud are as strong as ever, thanks in large part to the Department's many components working closely with partners at the Department of Health and Human Services, and state and local law enforcement.

Strengthening Criminal Enforcement:

In recent years, the Department has stepped up its enforcement efforts related to health care fraud, including the following accomplishments in Fiscal Year 2007:

-- U.S. Attorneys' Offices opened 878 new criminal health care fraud

investigations involving 1,548 potential defendants.

-- Federal prosecutors had 1,612 health care fraud criminal investigations

pending, involving 2,603 potential defendants, and filed criminal

charges in 434 cases involving 786 defendants.

-- A total of 560 defendants were convicted for health care fraud-related

crimes during the year.

-- In one of the most recent enforcement actions, on May 21, 2008, Jorge

Alan Rodriguez Sanchez was indicted in the Eastern District of

Pennsylvania for conspiring to distribute Schedule II controlled

substances illegally through an Internet pharmacy. Beginning in 2002,

Rodriguez Sanchez allegedly sold via e-mail narcotic prescription drugs,

such as Oxycontin, Vicodin and Xanax to customers without prescription

or legitimate medic
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