Prepared Remarks of Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey on the Justice Department's Efforts to Combat Healthcare Fraud ...(million in fraud. Cases brought inthis d...),Health

The successes achieved here in South Florida are a model for other districts. The U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles is now partnering with the Criminal Division on healthcare related prosecutions. So far, they have secured indictments against people and organizations that collectively are alleged to have made almost $13 million worth of fraudulent claims to Medicare.

Southern Florida and Central California are leading the charge, but the effort to combat health care fraud has been a national one. Nationwide over the past four years, the Department has opened more than 3,600 criminal health care fraud investigations, and 3,300 civil investigations.

Cases like the ones you prosecute and investigate are the mainstay of our efforts--and I'm referring to both the civil and the criminal sides. Every patient who takes kickbacks for unnecessary services covered by Medicare might mean a real patient who doesn't get the treatment he should. Every bottle of fake compounded medicine means a patient who won't get the medicine she needs.

You police the marketplace to protect consumers and the government from unscrupulous and fraudulent providers. Your work brings these criminals to justice, and protects our health care system from those to whom stealing dollars is more important than saving lives. And the level of cooperation you've achieved with other federal agencies like the Department of Health and Human Services provides a great model for other offices to follow.

Even with limited resources, you have done outstanding work in making the most of our budget and staff, through the three-pronged strategy of: going after the money civilly, bringing prompt prosecutions of the most serious offenders, and continuing to take on lar
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