License to steal

Description

Fraud and abuse bleeds more than 100 billion dollars each year out of the U.S. health system. This detailed examination shows the problem is worse than almost anyone knows, mostly invisible, and still far from controlled. Sparrow reveals that current control systems fail by presenting fraud perpetrators with a safe, easy-to-hit target: fully automated check-printing systems, which only require thieves to bill "correctly" regardless of whether or not any medical service is provided. This target attracts an extraordinary range of criminal entrepreneurs, from low-life hoods who sign on as Medicare or Medicaid providers equipped with nothing more than beepers and mailboxes, to drug trafficking organizations, organized crime syndicates, even major hospital chains. Sparrow's research examines the much-misunderstood effects of managed care on the problem, the government's recent attempts to grapple with fraud, and the campaign by various provider associations to undermine those efforts.

First Sentence

What makes the health care system in general, and claims-payment systems in particular, such attractive targets for fraud?

Subjects

Other Editions

• License to steal: why fraud plagues America's health care systemWestview Press1996-01-01
• License to stealWestview Press1996-01-01
• License to StealHardcoverWestview Press2000-07-01
• License to StealBasic Books2007-01-01
• License to stealRoutledge2018-01-01
• License to StealTaylor & Francis Group2019-01-01