To the citizens of the Commonwealth: It is an honor to serve as the 48th Attorney General of the Commonwealth of Virginia and to share with you some of the exceptional work being done by my office’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU). Virginia’s MFCU enjoys a well-earned reputation as a national leader in investigating and prosecuting unscrupulous health care providers who commit fraud against Virginia’s Medicaid program and Virginia taxpayers. Whether it is billing for services not rendered, using improperly trained or uncertified employees, or abusing or neglecting patients, our talented team of investigators and prosecutors ends these abuses wherever they are found. For more than thirty years, the Office of Attorney General’s MFCU has strengthened our Medicaid program and served the people of Virginia, particularly its vulnerable citizens who rely on Medicaid for needed medical services. What started as a six-person team in 1982 now includes more than 100 employees working in four regional offices, a Civil Unit, an Elder Abuse and Neglect Squad and an outreach component. This year, as a result of our criminal and civil investigations, the Virginia MFCU has successfully recovered $61,702,764.48 in state and federal court-ordered restitution, fines and penalties from providers who defrauded, or attempted to defraud, the Medicaid program. This pushes the unit’s total criminal and civil recoveries to almost $2 billion over thirty years. In 2013, MFCU broke its own record for the largest case ever investigated by a state agency for its $1.5 billion case against Abbott Labs for improperly marketing and promoting the prescription drug Depakote. Because of their exceptional work on state and national-level cases, MFCU won the 2013 Inspector General’s Award for Excellence in Fighting Fraud, Waste, and Abuse, an award presented annually to the nation’s top MFCU by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the Inspector General. This was their second such award, having previously won in 2008 following the successful prosecution of the Purdue Frederick Company and three of its corporate officers. It was the largest such prosecution to date. The MFCU’s outstanding performance is attributable to a focused team effort, exceptional working relationships with other state and federal agencies, and the selfless dedication of the men and women of the unit. These employees spend many days away from home and family to conduct surveillance, execute search warrants, analyze records, conduct interviews, and prosecute cases in court. Despite the great work that has been done in the last year, we are not resting on our laurels. I recently asked the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for funding to expand our staff, a move we believe will result in the recovery of millions of additional dollars in fraudulently obtained Medicaid funds. We are also stepping up our efforts to prevent elder abuse and neglect, utilizing registered nurses to further investigate and prosecute cases in health care facilities and homes, and conducting more than 130 community outreach events on ways to prevent, recognize, and report elder abuse and neglect. With kindest regards, I remain, Mark R. Herring Attorney General of Virginia
Posted on: Tue, 22 Jul 2014 17:49:24 +0000
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