When fraud causes patient harm, and how to find it before it does

It’s been called the most sinister, the most egregious, the worst kind of health care fraud – providers performing medically unnecessary procedures. When this type of fraud makes the headlines, it is indeed sensational.
Healthcare Fraud and Abuse Schemes – How to Spot the Patterns

Before the use of electronic claim submissions and EHRs, the only option payers had to detect fraud, waste and abuse was “foot-on-the-ground” auditing at provider sites. Even today many payers still rely on this manual process. These types of audits are time consuming, expensive and performed after claims have already been paid. Technological advances have radically changed FWA pattern recognition. Today, statistical sampling based physical claim audits aren’t necessary when payers can automate testing 100% of claims.
Dental FWA – Upcoding, Misrepresentation and Diagnosing Unnecessary Treatment

Dental fraud, waste, and abuse (FWA) is often unchecked as most Payer’s dental insurance line represents 10% or less of their total business. The National Health Care Anti-Fraud Association (NHCAA) estimates $68 to $226 billion is lost annually to Fraud, Waste and Abuse (FWA). This means up to $ 22.6 billion in FWA is overlooked annually.
Virtual Benefits Administrator and Context4 Healthcare, Inc. announce real-time Medicare pricing automation

Available to VBA subscribers today, this solution provides real-time Medicare Prospective Payment System (PPS) pricing during claims processing. Direct PPS pricing ensures compliance with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). It eliminates complexity and the need to utilize less accurate substitutes like RBRVS.
EHR systems can’t protect you from the False Claims Act

The recent Department of Justice (DOJ) $155 million False Claims Act settlement with eClinicalWorks highlights a problem that has existed in the EHR software industry for a long time. Any EHR system that attests to do everything for the integrated health system can’t possibly provide the highest possible level of all aspects of functionality. Some parts of the system will be concentrated upon while others will get just enough attention so the vendor can say they have the ...