HHS

Making Taxpayers Sick

Bacillus anthracis bacteria, using a Gram-stain technique.  The bacteria is often referred to by the name of the disease it causes: anthrax.  Courtesy of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

UPDATED 12:07 PM EST, March 6, 2013 | BY Phillip Swarts

Multiple government agencies are inspecting the same lab sites that work with hazardous materials like anthrax, an unnecessary overlap that wastes the government money as it faces budget cuts brought about by sequestration, a federal watchdog warns.

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UPDATED 22:24 PM EST, January 16, 2013

HIV Testing Ignored

Medical centers receiving federal funding aren't following government guidelines regarding HIV tests, a new investigative report found.

In fact, only 20 percent of the centers tested all teens and adults, ages 13-64, as recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).  Fifty-five percent of the centers are testing "high-risk" individuals, but a report by the Health and Human Services Department Office of Inspector General said that may no longer be adequate.

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UPDATED 7:07 AM EDT, March 20, 2013

Medicare's Grocery Card Giveaway

The Department of Health and Human Services has given qualified approval for a Medicare provider to give away $20 grocery gift cards to induce seniors to get more taxpayer-funded health screenings, despite concerns the promotion could run afoul of federal anti-kickback laws.

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UPDATED 15:19 PM EST, January 3, 2013

Medicare's Medication Mistake

The government office that oversees Medicare and Medicaid has reimbursed prescription drugs at market costs, instead of at optional lower rates that could potentially save taxpayers millions of dollars a year, a government investigation has found.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) reimburses prescription drug purchases by beneficiaries through Medicare Part B.  The cost is supposed to be no more than five percent above what it takes to manufacture the drugs. 

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UPDATED 6:25 AM EST, December 12, 2012

Senior Slip-ups

A $1.7 billion initiative by state and local governments to allow Medicare seniors to live more independently is actually sending large numbers of patients to assisted living facilities with licensing or other problems, a federal watchdog warns.

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UPDATED 11:06 AM EDT, October 11, 2012

Medi-Careless

Thousands of Medicare beneficiaries were put at risk of having their private medical information stolen because of security breaches, and the government was slow to notify or help most of the victims, an internal investigation found.

The stimulus law passed in 2009 required the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to quickly alert victims of possible identity theft, but the Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General found the agency often was slow to do so for many of the 13,775 beneficiaries put at risk by 14 recent security breaches.

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UPDATED 20:18 PM EDT, October 5, 2012

Dietary Drug Delinquents

The government is failing to aggressively regulate misleading or prohibited claims in the booming dietary supplements marketplace, potentially putting consumers' health at risk, a federal watchdog warns.

In fact, the Food and Drug Administration is so lax in its surveillance that one out every of five weight loss and immune support supplements makes promises about disease prevention and treatment that are prohibited by federal law, but their manufacturers suffer no consequence, the Department of Health and Human Services inspector general reported Wednesday.

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UPDATED 21:13 PM EDT, September 13, 2012

Day Late, Dollar Short

The Health and Human Services Department overpaid providers $8.4 million because it did not deduct late fees owed by Medicare and Medicaid providers, the agency's internal watchdog has found.

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UPDATED 19:31 PM EDT, August 23, 2012

Freudian Fraud

Safeguards on Medicare funding for community mental health centers are so weak that half the centers have unusually high billing with characteristics that suggest fraud, according to an investigation by the Health and Human Services Department's internal watchdog.

The report focuses on Medicare's Partial Hospitalization Program, which provides outpatient services to help mental health patients after a hospital stay.

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UPDATED 15:05 PM EDT, July 26, 2012

Ripe for Fraud

The Department of Health and Human Services isn't meeting President Barack Obama's high-profile directive to reduce waste, fraud and abuse in government, failing to report all excessive or inappropriate payments from Medicare, Medicaid and other entitlement programs, the agency's internal watchdog warns.

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