President Barack Obama will ask Congress to again bolster funding dedicated to fighting healthcare fraud, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced at a summit on the topic in Washington.
Obama's fiscal 2011 budget request, Sebelius said in a news release, “will include historic support for anti-fraud efforts that will save billions over 10 years. He will call for increased investments in programs that have a proven record of preventing fraud, reducing payment errors and returning funds to the trust funds.”
An HHS spokesman declined to elaborate. The president's budget is expected to be unveiled Feb. 1.
The
National Summit on Health Care Fraud includes officials from the HHS and the Justice Department, as well as participants representing the private sector. “Healthcare fraud isn't just a government problem,” Sebelius said in the release. “We have a shared interest in stopping these crimes and today's summit brought us together to discuss how we can all work together to fight fraud.”
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