None — JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- It’s a $23 million mistake at your expense -- Medicare making payouts to dead people.
Action News got our hands on a list of more than 250 companies accepting the cash and some of them are in our area.
An audit by the Office of Inspector General uncovered the oversight -- $23 million worth of Medicare payments made on behalf of deceased beneficiaries in 2011.
“It would be the equivalent of someone taking your credit card number and trying to submit a charge on that,” said Dwayne Grant with the Regional Officer of Inspector General.
Action News went a step further and obtained public records showing the list of companies involved with a high number of paid or unpaid claims.
“They tried at least a hundred times to submit a claim for a person who is deceased,” Grant said.
Of the 251 companies listed, two of them are in Jacksonville, so, we hit the streets to find some answers, first visiting Fletcher’s Medical Supplies on Jacksonville’s south side, then JC Home Health Care in Mandarin.
A man in charge at JC Home Health Care told us off camera that mistakes like this are common. He said they often don’t know a customer died until someone tells them.
David Fletcher, owner of Fletcher’s Medical Supplies, said the same thing -- adding only that once a mistake is uncovered he repays the money.
Fletcher issued the following statement:
“Fletcher Medical is committed to preventing Medicare claims made on behalf of deceased beneficiaries. At no time have we intentionally made inappropriate claims. While we have safeguards in place to prevent this from happening, we also regularly review our process and procedures and will continue to work closely with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator to ensure compliance. We also believe that CMS needs to better enforce and follow their own guidelines to ensure all providers are compliant.”
The OIG report showed many of the improper payments made were as a result of a blunder by the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services, or CMS. The agency had had missing or incorrect dates of death in its system.
Florida lawmakers didn’t mince words when we discussed the fraudulent payments with them.
“Well, it's unconscionable. It's inexcusable,” said Senator Bill Nelson. “Some people have seen this weakness in the system and they're making a racket out of it and they are ripping off the taxpayer.”
Senator Marco Rubio issued a statement, saying, “Medicare is going bankrupt and in desperate need of reform.”
“Whatever you do you have to have oversight,” said Representative Corrine Brown.
More oversight is exactly what the OIG has recommended for CMS. It’s suggesting the agency improve existing safeguards to prevent this from happening again. CMS has refused to comment on the audit.
“In the mind of the inspector general there is no legitimate excuse for this,” said Grant.
Dr. Richard Boswell in Brunswick also made the list. His office tells Action News they had no idea about the error. They blame the issue on CMS as well.