Medicare’s front door was so wide open that a dog walked right through it. In a new “War on Fraud” video posted by CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz, CMS Deputy Administrator and Chief Operating Officer Kim Brandt revealed how she once tested the system’s safeguards with her own dog, Sherlock.
“In the last administration, just to test how easy it was to enroll as a durable medical equipment supplier, we went ahead and enrolled my dog, Sherlock, as a DME supplier,” Brandt said. “We used my address, we used my bank account, but Sherlock was still a dog… we used his name, we used all the information, and we were able to successfully enroll him as a DME supplier at that time with very little information.”
That is how the scam works, she explained. Getting enrolled “gets you that golden ticket,” and fraudsters build their billing schemes from there. “If it’s that easy for my dog to get in with a little help from me,” Brandt said, “think about how easy it is for an actual fraudster to get in.”
Dr. Oz’s team, which calls her “Killer Kim,” put it plainly: “If a dog could get in, fraudsters could get in. Not anymore!” This year CMS put a six-month nationwide moratorium on new enrollments of certain medical equipment suppliers, and suppliers must be accredited and post a $50,000 surety bond for every location they bill from.
The days of rubber-stamp enrollment are over. The fraud fighters are in charge now, and the scammers, two-legged or four, are getting shut out.
