Record $4.1 Billion Recovered Through Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement

Today, Attorney General Eric Holder and Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, along with several other government officials—including FBI Assistant Director Kevin Perkins—released a new report showing the government’s health care fraud prevention and enforcement efforts recovered a record-breaking nearly $4.1 billion in taxpayer dollars from individual and companies during fiscal year (FY) 2011.

According to this latest Health Care Fraud and Abuse Control Program annual report, the Department of Justice convicted 743 defendants for health care fraud-related crimes during FY 2011, the highest number of health care fraud defendants charged in a single year. FBI-led investigations were responsible for 736 convictions. Our investigations also resulted in the operational disruption of 238 criminal fraud organizations and the dismantlement of the criminal hierarchy of more than 67 health care fraud criminal enterprises.

The report also contains information on the success of the joint DOJ-HHS Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team, examples of civil and criminal health care fraud cases, and government outreach activities to help deter health care fraud.