Medicare fraud is a huge problem in the United States. It is estimated that it costs taxpayers more than $60 billion each year. Some experts believe the number is higher than that figure. These rising costs are driving up federal budget deficits that endanger our future. There is enough money in Medicare fraud that if we were to take that amount, it would be enough to pay for a healthcare reform. Medicare is a huge problem for the United States and is costing taxpayers billions each year. One way we can protect against Medicare fraud is to mandate that Medicare records be electronically stored in a central data base and then protecting that data by securing the access with technology such as two factor authentication. Two factor authentication is a secure and effective way to protect sensitive data and is also an effective way to combat Medicare fraud.
Medicare fraud has become one of the most profitable crimes in America and will continue to rise as long as criminals find ways to exploit the weaknesses in the Medicare system. Medicare fraud has become much more sophisticated and these criminals recruit patients, get patient lists, find doctors, and look for new ways to commit Medicare scams.
In locations like Florida, Medicare fraud has become bigger than the drug trade. Rather than stealing or making $100,000 to $200,000 off of drug sales, they can steal millions off of Medicare fraud. In cities like Los Angeles, the City of Angels Medical Center recruited homeless people off the street to fill their beds, offering them food and money, meanwhile billing Medicare millions of dollars for their stay.
There are even companies that provide “lists” of Medicare patients that include their name, social security numbers, addresses, and dates of birth. With those four pieces of information, a criminal can bill the government for a patient. Copies of patient information can sell for $10 per patient on the black market and it is common for fraudsters to purchase thousands of these patient lists and then bill Medicare. Many of these lists are stolen from doctor’s offices and hospitals. Many of these charges go unnoticed because Medicare auditors can only check a fraction of these charges to see if they’re legitimate claims.
The Medicare system is based on trust and when the Medicare program was introduced in the 1960’s, it was assumed that no one would try to defraud the system that was designed to take care of the elderly people’s health needs. The government is required to reimburse Medicare vendors in less than 30 days, and in most cases Medicare “auto adjudicates” which means that as long as the computers decide that the right codes are being sent and the right forms are filled out, checks are sent to the vendors. This is a huge flaw in the Medicare system and the right security measures need to be put in place to prevent this kind of fraud. The Medicare system needs to be reformed and security measures need to be put in place to prevent access to sensitive data and to prevent unauthorized users from accessing it.
Security methods such as two factor authentication are an effective way to combat unauthorized access of users trying to fraud the system. By using two factor authentication, health care workers have to present two factors of identifying themselves to access the healthcare records of patients to ensure that they are authorized to access the data and to ensure their identity. Two factor authentication methods are also fairly cheap to implement and can be a very cost efficient way of combating Medicare fraud. One of the most effective ways to implement two factor authentication and the cost effective ways is to implement two factor authentication is to use a login/password combination in conjunction with a one-time password sent through a mobile device such as a smart phone or a tablet. Using this method, a user is identified with their username/login credentials and also through their mobile device that receives a one-time password through an out of band network that ensures that they are who they say they are. This is an effective and cost efficient way to identify someone because most users already have a mobile device such as a mobile phone and adding this additional layer of security can thwart fraudulent access because even if an unauthorized user has a user’s login credentials, they would not be able to access the one time password that is being sent through the mobile device.
Two factor authentication can be easily incorporated, can be low cost and requires minimal training. If we took a fraction of the $60 billion that it costs taxpayers like you and me each year and used it to incorporate two factor authentication into Medicare security systems, we would be saving a significant amount on Medicare and preventing a lot of fraudulent activity. The Medicare system needs to be reformed and it needs to be reformed in a hurry with an importance on strengthening the security system.
