"Officials said Medicare has awarded an initial $77 million contract for the new system to defense giant Northrup Grumman"
Yes, war-looters are going to guard the medical system against fraud as vets can not get the care they need.
"Medicare to begin tougher screening for fraud
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What?
Related:
Medicare toughens fraud screening (By Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, Associated Press)
WTF? You change a headline and..... arrrrrrrrrrgggggghhhhh!!!!!!!!!
"Medicare goes high-tech to head off fraud
Tired of paying bogus claims, then chasing the scammers, Medicare announced Friday it is deploying screening technology similar to what's widely used by credit card companies to head off fraud....
It's not likely to help crack sophisticated schemes that involve outwardly respectable companies with the expertise to cover their tracks....
Well, I'm $ure the intelligence agency operatio$ will help $omeone get $ome contract$.
Also see: There is Money in Medicare Fraud
Patrick Burns of Taxpayers Against Fraud, a nonpartisan group that supports whistleblowers who expose corporate scams against the government said, "The bad news is that the largest Medicare and Medicaid frauds are designed at the highest levels of companies, with accountants, billing experts and salespeople smoothing over the paperwork so that it will slide past all the proctors."
I'll bet it's good for profit$ though.
Health care fraud is estimated to cost taxpayers $60 billion a year, although its real extent is unknown....
Medicare anti-fraud czar Peter Budetti said the new system expected to go into operation July 1 is a major step forward. "It will allow us to do some things we had not been able to do before," he said....
Up to now, the program has performed rudimentary fraud checks on individual claims before payment, officials said. For example, does the Medicare number on a bill for prostate cancer treatment belong to a female patient?
The new system will allow Medicare to monitor large numbers of claims using computer analysis to spot tell-tale patterns of potential problems....
Time for a good, decent, single-payer rather than WASTING TAXPAYER MONEY!
Looking at such variables as the beneficiary, the provider, the type of service and other patterns, the system will assign risk scores to claims. It will then issue an alert when something looks like it might be off. Medicare will be able to investigate the claim before payment is sent out.
What if someone who really needs it is cut off in the meantime and dies?
That should help address one of the major frustrations for health care fraud investigators. Because Congress directs Medicare to pay claims promptly — usually within 14 to 30 days — fraudsters can make a quick bundle and drop off the radar at the first sign that law enforcement is on to them. By the time the chase is on, the lawbreakers have usually absconded with the loot.
But bankers and war-profiteers get away with it all the time!
Officials said Medicare has awarded an initial $77 million contract for the new system to defense giant Northrup Grumman and a group of companies. "We will be able to translate their experience from the private sector into Medicare," Budetti said. Other major companies participating in the contract include National Government Services and a Verizon subsidiary named Federal Network Systems.
Adder the printed Globe cut?:
Time will tell if the dramatic benefits officials are promising actually do materialize. Government technology acquisitions can be notoriously buggy. Still, Medicare needs technological tools such as the new system to confront its fraud problem.
Translation: Expect more wa$ted tax loot to $pecial intere$t$.
It's not likely to help crack sophisticated schemes that involve outwardly respectable companies with the expertise to cover their tracks....
Well, I'm $ure the intelligence agency operatio$ will help $omeone get $ome contract$.
Also see: There is Money in Medicare Fraud
Patrick Burns of Taxpayers Against Fraud, a nonpartisan group that supports whistleblowers who expose corporate scams against the government said, "The bad news is that the largest Medicare and Medicaid frauds are designed at the highest levels of companies, with accountants, billing experts and salespeople smoothing over the paperwork so that it will slide past all the proctors."
I'll bet it's good for profit$ though.
Health care fraud is estimated to cost taxpayers $60 billion a year, although its real extent is unknown....
Medicare anti-fraud czar Peter Budetti said the new system expected to go into operation July 1 is a major step forward. "It will allow us to do some things we had not been able to do before," he said....
Up to now, the program has performed rudimentary fraud checks on individual claims before payment, officials said. For example, does the Medicare number on a bill for prostate cancer treatment belong to a female patient?
The new system will allow Medicare to monitor large numbers of claims using computer analysis to spot tell-tale patterns of potential problems....
Time for a good, decent, single-payer rather than WASTING TAXPAYER MONEY!
Looking at such variables as the beneficiary, the provider, the type of service and other patterns, the system will assign risk scores to claims. It will then issue an alert when something looks like it might be off. Medicare will be able to investigate the claim before payment is sent out.
What if someone who really needs it is cut off in the meantime and dies?
That should help address one of the major frustrations for health care fraud investigators. Because Congress directs Medicare to pay claims promptly — usually within 14 to 30 days — fraudsters can make a quick bundle and drop off the radar at the first sign that law enforcement is on to them. By the time the chase is on, the lawbreakers have usually absconded with the loot.
But bankers and war-profiteers get away with it all the time!
Officials said Medicare has awarded an initial $77 million contract for the new system to defense giant Northrup Grumman and a group of companies. "We will be able to translate their experience from the private sector into Medicare," Budetti said. Other major companies participating in the contract include National Government Services and a Verizon subsidiary named Federal Network Systems.
Adder the printed Globe cut?:
Time will tell if the dramatic benefits officials are promising actually do materialize. Government technology acquisitions can be notoriously buggy. Still, Medicare needs technological tools such as the new system to confront its fraud problem.
Translation: Expect more wa$ted tax loot to $pecial intere$t$.
--more--"
Also see: Unnecessary CT scans increase radiation concerns (By Walt Bogdanich and Jo Craven McGinty, New York Times)
Flopped in as the web's national lead as the Medicare article dropped down behind a couple briefs. Incredible.
Good thing Democrats are defending Medicare and Medicaid, 'eh?
"Panel urges Congress to make major Medicare changes; As Congress seeks cuts, the 2 plans could save billions" by Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, Associated Press / June 16, 2011
WASHINGTON — Vice President Joe Biden’s goal is to find savings that will help the administration reach a deal with congressional Republicans to increase the nation’s $14.3 trillion debt ceiling.
Always in service to banks.
That is needed to prevent the government from lurching into an unprecedented default on its interest payments to creditors, which could destabilize the already wobbly economy.
You $ee who i$ fir$t in line to get the tax loot?
Prospects for the talks are uncertain, since both political parties are locked into their positions....
Pffft!
--more--"
Yup, good thing Democrats are looking out for the poor:
"States to cut Medicaid benefits as federal help ends; Costs expected to rise for other care recipients" by Robert Pear, New York Times / June 16, 2011
WASHINGTON — Benefits are being cut for millions of people, even though unemployment has increased....
federal largesse....
Oh, that budget-hacking government (unless it's money for wars, corporations, and Israel) is SO GOOD TO YOU, 'murkn!
Neither the White House nor Congress has tried to extend the extra federal financing for Medicaid, even though the number of beneficiaries is higher now than when Congress approved the aid as part of an economic recovery package in February 2009....
Although Medicaid provides health insurance to 1 in 5 Americans at some point in a year, it is more vulnerable to cuts than Medicare and Social Security, which have broader political support.
“Medicaid is very much on the chopping block,’’ said Senator John D. Rockefeller IV, a West Virginia Democrat and chairman of the Senate Finance Subcommittee on Health Care. “Seniors vote. But if you are poor and disabled, you might not vote, and if you are a child, you do not vote — that’s a lot of Medicaid’s population. They don’t have money to do lobbying.’’
--more--"
Good thing we have Democrats defending....
"White House criticized over cuts in pediatrician training; Hospitals fear loss of program would limit care" by Lawrence Lindner, Washington Post / June 19, 2011
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration’s bid to slash funding for training pediatricians at children’s hospitals is provoking intense protests from medical educators and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.
This year, the administration, as part of its 2012 budget, proposed terminating a program that provides more than $300 million a year to the 56 free-standing children’s hospitals around the country, which train 40 percent of the nation’s pediatricians and 43 percent of pediatric subspecialists.
In addition, it cut $48 million from the program this month as part of the overall spending reductions for the current year that were in the budget agreement reached with Congress....
But they have $1.1 billion for the bombing of Libya.
--more--"
Also see: Following Zakheim and Pentagon trillions to Israel and 9-11
