Blanche, Patel, RFK Jr., Oz Hold Press Conference On Healthcare Fraud Takedown Results

[0:00] track here what's the mile just talking about it again that keeps it alive yeah well people like [0:16] you know yeah some numbers are just close to black people we have had so much opportunity [0:23] large stakeholders you could talk about stuff and talk about this force just all the electric [0:31] stuff like how much focus we get to ship that just well i got i was feeds that come up you [0:40] said this georgia thing i was in the spear i would have stopped him wait a minute [0:56] of course i'm going to get the tallest guys [1:27] two minute warning [1:54] he's a generous man every time he goes out [1:58] one of these little regional takedowns and he emails me and says could i have the names of [2:04] all the guys who are with the other one personally [2:07] no one doesn't really imagine and they're not protected yeah but we also it also is out of the [2:14] 1811s on the takedowns yeah yeah the sack and a couple they're favorable [2:18] good morning good morning everybody today we are here to announce the results of the 2026 national [2:50] healthcare fraud takedown this announcement marks the greatest combined federal and state effort [2:58] in combating healthcare fraud in history thanks to the leadership of president trump and the vice [3:05] president and all those folks standing behind me and next to me we are more united than ever before [3:13] this team is working tirelessly to take down fraudsters who steal from taxpayer funded programs [3:20] and prey on vulnerable americans when we talk about the team that's working on these cases i want [3:28] to give some context around that there are nine healthcare fraud strike forces that have been part [3:36] of this effort 57 u.s attorney's offices 41 state attorney general's offices not red states not blue states [3:48] but both working together with the federal government multiple law enforcement agencies including inspector [3:56] generals some of the agencies that are that are here with me on this stage that's what we talk [4:02] about when we say this is an all-government approach to combating fraud it's not just the [4:07] department of justice it's not just hhs it's all government including worth working with our state [4:14] and local partners today we are announcing federal and state charges all of which were charged or unsealed [4:22] at some point over the past two weeks the past 14 days coordinated nationwide action since june 8th [4:30] we've charged 455 defendants across 56 like i said a minute ago u.s attorney's offices and 45 u.s states and [4:40] territories as alleged in in the various indictments these individuals participated in health care fraud [4:46] schemes involving over 6.5 billion dollars in false claims submitted to medicare medicaid and other [4:56] healthcare programs the team around me will get into more specifics but here are a few points that that [5:02] stand out in one indictment we're bringing charges against a corporate executive in arizona in connection [5:09] to over a 1 billion dollar fraud involving unnecessary wound grafts this alleged scheme [5:18] costs medicare over 1 million dollars per patient in total our indictment charges 11 defendants for over [5:26] 2 billion dollars in fraud fraudulent claims in connection to alleged wound care schemes the indictment [5:33] also alleges that these individuals then used the taxpayer money to bankroll multi-million dollar homes [5:40] luxury vehicles like 135 000 maserati jewelry like an 865 000 bulgari necklace and to top it all off [5:50] to fund the construction of a 4.6 million dollar hotel at a beach resort in the philippines we're [5:58] taking back the money the luxury cars the jewelry and these alleged fraudsters will face justice the [6:06] coordinated actions of the past two weeks have resulted in over 182 million dollars in cash [6:12] and other assets seized making clear our health care fraud enforcement efforts generate a significant [6:18] return on investment for our taxpayers in terms of medicaid fraud we're able to announce today the [6:25] creation of the west coast strike force and the deployment of additional prosecutors allowing us [6:30] to bring charges against a record-setting 295 defendants our indictments allege over 518 million [6:38] and medicaid fraud between these individual defendants you're going to hear from director patel in a [6:44] moment but apprehending alleged fraudsters remains a top priority of the department of justice [6:50] and the fbi and our other law enforcement partners including the dea who's here as well [6:57] last year's takedown a year ago we charged multiple individuals for allegedly running a 10.6 billion dollar [7:04] medical equipment scheme using stolen identities to make false medicare claims today i can announce [7:10] that earlier this month we apprehended two of those defendants extradited from estonia separately over [7:17] the weekend we conducted the foreign transfer of to custody of a defendant who is allegedly connected to [7:22] another 3.7 billion dollars in intended loss i want to thank our tireless federal state and local [7:30] law enforcement agencies who work hard every day and participated in these whole of government [7:36] operations this is just the beginning fraudsters can no longer rip off american taxpayers if you seek [7:45] to harm or cheat americans we will find you seize any assets and prosecute you to the fullest extent of [7:52] the law thank you very much i'm going to turn it over now to secretary kennedy thank you thank you attorney [8:02] general i blanche and thank you to the white house task for fraud task force to colin mcdonald of the [8:11] justice department the director cash patel of the fbi to the hs hhs office of inspector general [8:19] dr oz and the cms team and the investigators and law enforcement officers who brought these cases forward [8:27] president trump directed this administration to confront health care fraud aggressively [8:32] and we are doing that the 2026 national health care fraud takedown uncovered 6.5 billion dollars in [8:41] alleged fraud the second largest amount ever charged in a single health care fraud operation [8:48] the department of justice charged a record number of medicaid fraud defendants more than 440 defendants now [8:56] face charges this effort brought together federal agencies state partners and u.s territories [9:03] across the united states 18 of the participating states as as attorney general blanche pointed out [9:10] were blue states with democratic governors rod does not recognize party lines and neither does [9:18] accountability today's cases include the largest medicaid fraud enforcement action department of history [9:25] 165 defendants charged with allegedly submitting more than 200 million dollars in false claims to medicaid [9:34] these schemes did not target government programs they targeted the american taxpayer they stole money from [9:41] workers who pay taxes from families who depend on medicare and medicaid and from patients who trusted their [9:49] health care professionals to be serving their health interests when it turns out they were just chasing money from [9:57] our agencies the allegations the allegations in these cases are particularly disturbing some defendants allegedly ordered [10:04] medically unnecessary tests others prescribed products that patients did not need some allegedly fueled opioid [10:13] addiction to increase their own revenue in certain cases patients allegedly died while believing they were [10:20] receiving legitimate medicare medicare medical care from providers who only viewed them as bill as billing opportunities [10:29] these defendants did not simply break the law they violated the trust that patients place in medical professionals [10:37] one of today's indictments charged a hospital the hospice owner in los angeles area [10:42] and two marketers in a 27.7 million dollar medicare fraud scheme according to the indictment [10:50] the owner paid illegal kickbacks to obtain personal information of deceased medicare beneficiaries [10:58] one of the ways that colin and dr oz have been chasing down hospice fraud we've chugged closed now 800 hospices in la [11:07] and one of the ways that we've been able to detect that fraud is that in many of them the patients never die [11:12] they live forever that's not supposed to happen in hospices and this particular owner was actually going [11:20] out and purchasing names from coroners of dead patients and then billing us for those that make it appear that [11:27] some of his patients were actually finally dying and while taxpayers funded these false claims the owner [11:35] purchased a rolls-royce phantom that case illustrates exactly what is at stake [11:42] every fraudulent dollar diverted into a criminal scheme is a dollar unavailable or patient care for [11:49] medical innovation or for services for vulnerable americans um during the biden administration [11:57] the my predecessor implemented two reforms at hhs one of those was the so-called pay and chase system we know [12:06] one billing when invoices come into my agency we can tell that some of them are fraudulent or probably [12:13] fraudulent and the new system said we're not going to stop those payments we want everybody paid and then [12:21] we'll claw them back at the end it was called pay and chase and when i asked people the careers at hhs how [12:28] could you do this this is crazy because of course we never claw back anything [12:32] they said that they were told to focus on enrollment and not fraud the other thing um that they did [12:42] is to um is to liquidate our program integrity office so when my predecessor came into office there [12:49] were 80 people in program integrity which is not enough because 50 states and five territories [12:55] territories and when i got in there was only six left so all of those people were transferred or let go [13:03] and we were literally doing no program integrity and that opened up the floodgates for all of this [13:09] fraud 100 billion dollars in fraud a year that are being stolen now from my agency the federal government [13:16] paid claims first and chase fraud after the money was out the door and that approach of course failed [13:23] taxpayers we are ending it hhs is replacing the old pay and chase system with a detect and prevent [13:31] strategy that identifies suspicious claims before the taxpayer dollars ever leave the treasury we are [13:38] deploying advanced artificial intelligence and data analytics to identify fraudulent billing patterns in real [13:45] time stop improper payments before they occur and strengthen oversight across federal health programs [13:53] our objective is straightforward to stop the fraud before it happens the people charged today should [14:00] understand that we will continue expanding these capabilities strengthening and enforcement and pursuing [14:07] every credible allegation of fraud if you exploit patients for profit if you steal medicaid or medicare [14:15] dollars if you treat taxpayer dollars as your personal bank account we will investigate you we will build [14:23] the case and we will bring you to justice we will find fraud we will stop it we will recover taxpayer [14:30] dollars whenever the law permits and we will restore integrity to the programs that millions of americans rely [14:38] on for their care thank you and i know when i introduce colin colin mcdonald from the justice department [14:53] thank you secretary kennedy today's record health care fraud charges and arrests makes clear that there is no [15:01] case too big no scheme too complex and no hiding place too remote for our fraud fighting team in just 14 days [15:11] 455 defendants have been charged across the country for schemes involving over 6.5 billion in fraud under the [15:22] leadership of president trump vice president vance and attorney general blanche the department of justice is [15:28] aggressively scaling our offensive against anyone using health care as a front to steal from the american [15:36] people but today's cases allege more than the theft of taxpayer dollars many allege the theft of human dignity [15:48] are sick needy and elderly placing their faith in the gift of medicine were neglected ignored and used for [15:59] personal profit for example one defendant is charged with conspiring to submit approximately 89 million in false and [16:07] fraudulent claims for cardiovascular tests this defendant allegedly used marketing tactics designed [16:14] to prey on fears that student athletes could die from sudden cardiac arrest he then allegedly rubber [16:23] stamped test results as normal without reviewing them despite one patient's test results showing an [16:30] enlarged heart the defendant allegedly signed off on the test results within approximately 11 seconds [16:37] of accessing the 63 test results images as a result the student was cleared to play and he suffered [16:48] sudden cardiac arrest and died on the basketball court just weeks later that is why we cannot and will not [16:58] tolerate fraud in health care how are we going about targeting fraud in health care we are following the data data [17:08] data talks and data doesn't lie it identifies where fraud is happening and unmasks the perpetrators [17:15] driving it for example our data analytics team observed a dramatic spike in payments for allografts from less than 1 [17:24] billion in 2021 to over 14 billion just four years later our resulting investigations have led to criminal charges [17:31] against 11 defendants across six districts for allograft fraud including a company executive and eight [17:39] medical professionals what happened here to be clear was not medicine the defendants in these schemes [17:48] purchased allografts for 30 to 75 dollars inflated the price up to up to nearly 50 times that cost with [17:57] the tab picked up by the taxpayers and then secretly gave lucrative kickbacks for allografts applied marketers and [18:06] nurses who took kickbacks targeted vulnerable hospice patients making in many instances over 1 million per [18:13] patient these allograft fraud charges are the result of just one of our many many data driven initiatives [18:20] we are announcing today the first prosecution arising out of our financial intelligence review team [18:26] a cutting edge effort to combine traditional data analytics with financial information in less than seven [18:33] months after identifying a suspicious behavioral health provider in illinois we brought charges against [18:39] a defendant for a 67 million medicaid fraud scheme the defendant allegedly billed medicaid for providing [18:45] behavioral health services to patients who received no services and were actually even hospitalized at [18:52] entirely separate health facilities at the time of the billings today is just the beginning of a new era of [18:59] health care fraud enforcement the fraud division's health care fraud unit which led today's nationwide [19:06] takedown is one of the best investments across the government saving 106 dollars for every dollar spent [19:14] and with the whole of government laser focused on rooting out fraud under the leadership of the white [19:18] house task force to eliminate fraud we are rapidly enhancing our fried fraud fighting capabilities today we are [19:26] announcing an agreement with the centers for medicare and medicaid services to obtain dedicated cloud [19:31] computing space in the cms's cloud environment to run real-time advanced analytical models to detect fraud [19:38] we are also announcing agreements with the federal trade commission and customs and border protection to [19:43] eliminate data silos and enrich our algorithms and we're coordinating with prosecutors agents and analysts from across [19:51] state and federal government at a scale and scope that has never before existed until today the era of [19:59] getting rich off america's health care system is over if you defraud the american people and put profit over [20:07] patients we will do everything we can to put you in prison i'll now turn the podium over to a critical partner in our [20:15] fight against fraud director cash patel thank you america you should take a look you should take a look [20:30] at what leadership from the white house and the president trump's prioritization to go after and combat [20:34] fraud looks like america should take a look at the vice president's task force and the initiative by the [20:40] justice department here under ag todd blanche and aag colin mcdonald fraud is no longer being tolerated is not [20:47] being put up with and you've seen the staggering numbers that in just the last two weeks that's all we're here to [20:52] talk about today is just the last two weeks of fraud of perpetrators and criminals who have been arrested [20:57] and apprehended from around the world totaling over six and seven billion dollars in fraud in money [21:03] stolen from the american people our precious taxpayer dollars that are supposed to service our seniors and [21:08] our kids were being stolen outright by individuals who thought they could get away with it but thanks to [21:14] the trump administration and the vice president's task force in the white house task force and department of [21:18] justice's courageous prosecutors we have now been able to charge a record number of individuals i just [21:24] want to go over a couple of things one such individual the fbi is responsible for what we call [21:30] foreign transfer of custodies f talks last week the fbi executed four f talks on four separate continents [21:36] in 24 hours we did this because we had the backing of the white house and the u.s government and the [21:41] department of justice to go out and apprehend criminals wherever they are one such individual related to [21:46] fraud was apprehended in turkey thanks to the relationships and partnerships between ambassador [21:51] tom barrack and the turkish government mr hilmi was arrested after perpetrating a multi-billion dollar [21:57] fraud in turkey apprehended and transferred back to the united states of america while he were faced [22:02] prosecution i also want to highlight uh the vice president's brilliant idea to put together a most [22:08] wanted fraudsters list the fbi hazard has always had our top 10 most wanted fugitive list but we in two [22:14] weeks ago i think we were all in ohio where we announced our most wanted fraudsters list and in [22:18] just the last two weeks thanks to the help of the american people in the world we have apprehended [22:23] two of the most wanted fraudsters already one of those individuals herbert leon kimball was [22:29] apprehended in the philippines he's an american citizen he had been bilking allegedly the system [22:34] against medicaid for billions of dollars since 2014 1.2 billion dollar in telemedicine specifically alone [22:40] that individual was apprehended in the philippines and transported back to the united states of [22:44] america where he will now face justice this is the reach of the united states government this is the [22:49] reach of this team the interagency and state and local partners focused on one mission and one mission [22:54] alone to combat fraud and make sure the american public's precious taxpayer dollars go where they're [22:59] supposed to go to the american people that need them the most and not to these criminals who are [23:05] stealing from us day in and day out those days are over and this should showcase to the world the length [23:11] that we will go as an interagency and as a task force to apprehend and arrest and bring to justice [23:17] anyone who steals our dollars that are meant for our most vulnerable citizens we're also going to ask what [23:23] we did in ohio a couple of weeks ago and we'll circulate it on social media later we're adding two more [23:29] individuals to the most wanted fraudster list i said then and i've said it before the american people [23:35] in the world are our best sources of information there is no such thing as bad information so if you [23:41] have any information on khalid satari who is wanted for a 547 million dollar genetic testing scheme [23:47] and we believe to be hiding in the united arab emirates call 1-800 call fbi 1-800 call fbi let us know [23:54] you saw what we did in just two weeks by apprehending two of the most wanted fraudsters with your help [23:58] we will apprehend the rest of them the last one is emily ty who's also wanted in connection with [24:03] the genetic testing scheme for allegedly stealing 90 million dollars and she was previously on an [24:09] ankle monitor and fled we believe to vietnam so if the american public or anyone in the world has [24:14] information on emily ty please call 1-800 1-800 call fbi we need your information we need your help [24:20] and you have now seen what we can collectively do as an interagency under the attorney general's brilliant [24:24] leadership and the prioritization at the white house that fraud will not be tolerated that [24:28] fraud perpetrators will be apprehended not just across the united states of america but from the [24:32] four corners of the world so we plead with you to give us any and all information that you have and [24:37] again the only type of bad information is the one that we don't receive from you so please call 1-800 call [24:42] fbi with any information on any of the fraudsters on our most wanted list and this should be a clear [24:47] message to the world that the fbi along with our interagency partners are not tolerating fraud anymore [24:53] and we will chase them down just like we chase down terrorists narco traffickers gang bangers and [24:58] those that wish to do harm to our communities because this type of harm is equally as harmful [25:02] to our most vulnerable thank you and i now turn it over to our brilliant partner uh dr oz i'm gonna put [25:14] my doctor's hat on here there's two issues that we have not gone into in detail but they've been [25:18] mentioned by many the first is affordability the hundred billion dollars the secretary kennedy [25:22] mentioned is stolen from medicare and medicaid if we were able to just take that out of what's being [25:27] stolen from medicare would double the life expectancy of the medicare trust fund it massively changes what [25:33] people pay when we tolerate this kind of fraud the second big message again is that costs matter they [25:39] matter a lot and they're measured oftentimes in ways that we can put on signs but the actual cost is that [25:44] of human health and the life's lives of humans hurt by these fraudsters because they don't care about [25:50] you they're willing to steal your money when you're down and out and struggling and you're vulnerable [25:53] they will definitely take your health and take your life if that's required today's actions are the [25:57] results of months of painstaking collaboration by law enforcement agencies represented on this stage [26:02] the u.s attorney of course the white house anti-fraud task force the fbi hhsoig cms colleagues all of [26:10] us worked tirelessly towards one goal making sure that people who steal from medicare and medicaid [26:16] feel it face real consequences because it scares away future perpetrators as secretary kennedy mentioned the [26:22] the general approach has been slow meandering and non-consequential for fraudsters which is why [26:28] after covid they rushed into this space cms's role in this partnership has fundamentally changed because [26:33] of the nature of the frosters we now use techniques that historically were never thought of instead of [26:39] just flagging problems we build cases under the leadership of secretary kennedy we've created a stellar [26:44] team at cms fraud fighters includes including kim brandt and janine wugo and others who brilliantly [26:50] reinvent how we catch these criminals and by the time our law enforcement partners are ready to move [26:56] we aim to hand them a file that is already complete already ready supported by payment suspensions and [27:01] provider revocations funding deferrals real-time fraud detection that never existed before now the [27:07] numbers tell the story i'm going to give you two really important ones the first is in the first [27:11] quarter of last year we revoked billing privileges for fraudsters of 106 sorry 1006 providers pretty good [27:20] result we thought at the time this same period this year the first quarter we made 1400 revocations [27:26] that's a 40 increase over last year so 40 more revocations we also have patient payment suspensions [27:32] where we just don't pay the bill because we don't think it's legitimate addition is impressive the first [27:36] half of the of this year we made a thousand medicare payment suspensions a thousand that's a lot of [27:42] people nearly 800 by the way from one state california for a similar period last year we made 219 [27:48] suspensions so a five-fold 500 increase in payment suspensions because we're using tools now that [27:55] historically had been used marginally now these efforts brand uh all kinds of new tools for medicare [28:01] and medicaid the fraud war room that has been put together is a purpose-built tool to identify track and [28:07] neutralize bad actors often from foreign countries much more effectively than the old system the [28:12] formula is straightforward the dog brings uh prosecutorial firepower law enforcement brings [28:17] investigative tools cms brings data the analytics we use administrative muscle to push things [28:22] through and we are closing loopholes that frosters have avoided and been exploiting for years those [28:28] days are over frosters your time is up now speaking of frosters i want to highlight an important case [28:34] that drives home what everyone on the stage really feels deeply in our heart kim if you can be this is [28:38] kim brent that i mentioned earlier bring up just bring that poster of the young man up just bring this [28:43] young man has been referred to already his name is katon francis i spoke to his mother last night [28:47] kim just bring it up if you don't mind looks like a pretty good athlete this young man was involved in [28:56] a scheme run by frosters including doctors a cardiovascular testing company whose medical [29:01] director approved ekgs and echocardiograms as was mentioned earlier in by colin in as little as 11 [29:07] seconds that was this kid's case the ekg was taken his parents were told he was fine the doctor we [29:13] believed from the moment he got the image to said it was fine was 11 seconds the parents who had been [29:19] marketed to claiming that their kid might be at risk were therefore told the kid was fine when in [29:24] fact nothing had been done the october ekg was read as normal the kid was dead dead a month later [29:32] now i talked to the mom of course still in pain the family was told the tests were normal unfortunately [29:39] and despite all these internal communications that we revealed which acknowledged by the company that [29:43] they knew these were not normal tests and they had done something terribly wrong they kept doing it [29:48] so that kid was hurt irreparably passed away because nothing was done about these frosters and [29:54] they went right after it their company built over 90 million dollars while a child was buried by their [30:00] family no remorse whatsoever kane's mother wanted me to give you a quote i'm going to read it exactly as [30:05] she gave it to me the doctor is as bad as any greedy criminal who is killing people in the streets [30:11] i hope he rots in jail so no one else is hurt but my son will never come back to me that's the real [30:18] human costs that we were speaking of on the stage julian's day mother shared the autopsy and revealed [30:25] that her son's heart was two and a half times normal instead of being this big i'm a heart surgeon [30:29] that's a normal size heart size of your fist two and a half times larger than that there is no way you [30:34] could miss that except they didn't care that's why mom runs them to rot in hell this is not a [30:40] diagnostic company it's a predatory scheme dressed up in medical clothing and we're going to treat it [30:45] as such we've got a couple big breakthroughs i mean put them some in some of these numbers so at [30:50] least give you some confidence that the pay and chase model that cms had relied on that secretary [30:54] kennedy spoke to has been abandoned and instead we don't want the money going out the back door we want [31:00] the fraud detected as soon as it happens and we can stop it that way in original medicare so far [31:05] in the year of 2025 we've done a remarkable job in 2024 before we came in uh we we we saved about 60 [31:14] less money than this so total amount of money saved last year 42 billion dollars that's return on [31:19] investment of 22 for every dollar that we pulled back for the american taxpayer two-thirds of those [31:24] savings 28 billion dollars came from simply locking the front door never letting the money go out the [31:30] door that's provider revocations automated claim denials all the things that should have been done [31:35] years ago that no longer will that money be taken out of your pocketbooks we've achieved achieved this [31:40] with only a five percent increase in medicare program integrity spending this is the best way for us to [31:46] spend your tax dollars wisely the medicaid side is more difficult because states run medicaid but we've [31:50] been on that as well savings reached four billion dollars last year that's 165 increase over the [31:56] following over the prior year and that we did that actually by spending seven percent less money [32:01] so we spent less money brought in more frosters saved you a lot more money these results don't happen [32:06] by accident they reflect a deliberate strategic shift in how cms operates and they show what's [32:11] possible when agencies stop working in silos and start working as partners like the work like [32:16] the white house anti-fraud task force has been able to achieve uh jetson leader lewis jake foster oig [32:22] leader march bell rebecca yuan there's lots of other people in the room right now who deserve a lot of [32:26] credit uh all of us agree with the president and the vice president that the best prescription [32:31] for a fraudster is prosecution the era of champagne on private jets is over no longer will champagne and [32:37] private jets be paid for by the american taxpayer andrew ferguson leads that white house anti-fraud task [32:43] book together with colin mcdonald and the vice president i asked him to come up and say a few words [32:47] thank you dr oz president said he wanted a whole of government approach to combating health [32:56] care fraud and fraud across all our benefits programs and this is the result every major [33:01] leader in this space from the federal government is standing up here and all have contributed [33:06] in critically important ways to this effort investigators prosecutors health care specialists the [33:12] leadership at hhs and at cms have made today possible i also want to thank jake foster and his team [33:19] justin woodward and becca uya at doj for the at the health care fraud unit that has broken records with [33:27] today's effort not just in their own prosecutions but in harnessing the power of the u.s attorneys and [33:32] state attorneys general to make today possible the vice president has always said we have to take a [33:37] two-prong approach to this we have to stop the money from getting out of the agencies uh administrator [33:43] oz and secretary kennedy have talked about that and then we have to impose consequences on people [33:48] that have defrauded the american government and we've been saying that we're doing this to save these [33:52] programs from the fraud that is bleeding them dry that will make them unavailable in the future [33:57] for future generations to protect the investment the trillions of dollars of investment that every american [34:03] taxpayer makes every single year to help their friends their neighbors and strangers in times [34:08] of need but i also like dr oz i want to talk about the real human toll of this for a minute i want to [34:14] talk about skin substitutes or allografts five years ago medicare was paying out less than a billion [34:20] dollars every year in allografts and skin substitutes by 2025 almost 15 billion dollars these programs [34:28] were riddled with fraud and yes that's a problem because it takes money out of all of our pockets [34:34] and puts it into the hands of the worst people on the planet but this doesn't just affect all of us [34:39] these frauds affect individual american citizens in horrifying ways we saw this for example in [34:45] minnesota where a program designed to protect veterans from homelessness was so attacked by fraudsters [34:51] they had to shut the thing down because they couldn't afford it anymore i want to talk about a [34:55] particular case that the department is indicted today out of the district of nevada where a nurse [35:00] practitioner is accused of having built medicaid for almost a billion dollars in skin substitute [35:07] allografts but this isn't just filing fake claims and trying to take money out of our pockets [35:13] she was performing these skin substitute procedures on vulnerable elderly americans in hospices and in [35:21] nursing homes and then submitting those claims she was using human beings american citizens as living [35:27] piggy banks and that she took the money she got from those living piggy banks and she bought eight [35:33] hundred sixty five thousand dollar necklaces that the department seized she bought a almost half [35:38] million dollar ferrari that the department also seized we've heard a lot about the numbers today we've [35:43] heard how many records have been broken by the department of justices and hhs's incredible efforts today [35:49] but the numbers shouldn't be treated as an abstraction this doesn't just affect the whole country's [35:54] taxpayers real human beings american citizens are physically maimed because of this fraud [36:01] so shutting down this fraud killing these incentives for people to commit fraud putting people in jail [36:06] to commit these frauds aren't just about protecting the fisk they're not just about protecting the program [36:11] they are about protecting our fellow american citizens from the worst of us that is why this is so [36:16] important that's why the vice president assembled this task force at the president's direction [36:21] and this is the result the entire federal government deploying all of its resources at home and abroad [36:27] to end the fraud and to protect american citizens and so with that i'm going to turn it over to dea [36:33] administrator terry cole thank you and mr attorney general good morning sir we stand here today united [36:48] to share the commitment to protect americans and save american lives it's been said but bears repeating [36:55] health care fraud is not just a financial crime it's a public safety threat a public health threat and [37:04] a direct threat to the trust the americans place in our health care system let me be clear medical [37:12] providers who fuel addiction endanger lives and profit from pain they cause are no different than any other [37:22] drug trafficker dea occupies a unique place in this fight we sit at the intersection of health care [37:29] regulation and law enforcement our job is to protect the controlled substance supply chain and stop those [37:38] who seek to exploit it the csa created a closed system of distribution one designed to keep medications [37:47] available for legitimate care while preventing diversion and abuse every link in that chain has a [37:54] responsibility to protect patients and to preserve trust in the system being a dea registrant [38:04] is not just a privilege it is a responsibility it is a promise to patients that medical decisions will [38:13] be based on clinical judgment not financial gain while the vast majority of healthcare professionals [38:22] honor that promise criminals have found ways to exploit the system for personal gain as both a law [38:30] enforcement and regulatory agency dea sees things others don't we connect the dots between drug diversion [38:39] fraud and criminal activity and when we find those abusing positions of trust we act we use every [38:49] authority available criminal civil and administrative to protect patients and preserve trust in our nation's [38:59] health care system in this takedown alone dea developed 18 criminal and civil cases in coordination with [39:07] u.s attorney's offices and issued a record 928 administrative actions to prevent future harm this includes 205 orders to show [39:20] costs 53 immediate suspensions and 642 surrenders for costs in one case we work with our partners we uncovered 36 million [39:32] dollars in medicaid fraud resulting in the seizure of 15 million dollars in u.s currency six aircrafts from a [39:42] single physician in another case we identified a pillar of a pill mill clinics operating that were issuing more than [39:51] two million oxycodone prescriptions and over 900 000 hydrocodone prescriptions each scheme chips away at the [40:01] the safeguards put into place to ensure every patient gets the medication they need safely and lawfully [40:11] americans should never have to wonder whether a prescription was written because it was needed or because [40:17] someone saw an opportunity to profit our message to any medical provider who abuses that trust is simple [40:26] if you choose personal greed over professional responsibility dea will hold you accountable [40:32] dea has been entrusted to save american lives we will not stand idle while criminals exploit patients [40:41] abuse positions of trust and put profit over people thank you and now i'd like to welcome hsi matt [40:52] mulholland thanks good morning my name is matthew milholland i'm the acting deputy executive associate [41:04] director of homeland security investigations the principal arm investigative arm of the department of [41:10] homeland security today's announcement marks a pivotal moment in our nation's ongoing fight [41:15] against health care fraud a crime that steals from american taxpayers it puts vulnerable patients [41:21] at risk as part of the department of homeland security hsi is proud to stand alongside our partners [41:28] in this historic effort hsi's mission is clear to safeguard the american public and economy from [41:35] criminal organizations and individuals who seek to exploit our benefits system for personal gain [41:42] health care fraud undermines trust in our health care system and diverts resources from those who [41:48] need them most this year's national health care fraud takedown is the largest in history with 455 [41:55] defendants charged across 45 states and territories and more than 6.5 billion in alleged fraud uncovered [42:04] hsi plays a critical role in investigating the transnational criminal networks behind this fraud [42:09] identifying and apprehending fugitives overseas and disrupting schemes that span across borders our [42:16] special agents working closely with the department of justice hhs the fbi the dea our local and state [42:25] and international partners demonstrated extraordinarily extraordinary dedication and expertise using [42:32] advanced data analytics and financial intelligence to follow money seize assets and ensure accountability [42:38] at every level their commitment collaboration and innovation have made today's results possible [42:46] together we've shown that no criminal no matter how sophisticated or well hidden can evade the reach of [42:53] the u.s government hsi remains steadfast in its commitment to protecting the american people [42:58] defending the integrity of our nation's financial infrastructure and ensuring that those who abuse it [43:04] are held accountable today's actions send a powerful message if you target our health care [43:10] programs you will be found you will be prosecuted and you will be brought to justice thank you all [43:22] right thanks everybody um we'll take a couple questions on what we're here for today if you want [43:27] to hear from somebody in particular on stage just feel free to lead with that any questions alex [43:34] last year's announcement uh it was 14.6 billion dollars of intended fraud loss this year he said 6.5 billion [43:42] i'm wondering is can you explain the discrepancy there is this is a result of fewer prosecutions less money [43:47] or is this dr oz mentioned the idea that you guys are catching this before the money goes out the [43:52] door is that having an impact yeah look i think it's a combination of everything you just said it's [43:58] a combination there were a couple cases last year that that made that number that high and and so this [44:04] we we said this year we have been doing an extraordinary amount of work um and when i say we i'm not [44:10] saying the department of justice i'm saying everybody on this stage and the folks in the back [44:14] and part of that work it includes turning off the spigot that's right and so it includes more [44:18] detection early on that stops the the claims from even going anywhere near a payment being issued and [44:24] and that's part of the reason and and so yeah we had a great year last year too when it comes to [44:29] combating fraud if if you are an american taxpayer you should be extraordinarily happy with what you see [44:35] on the stage right now not only because we're talking about today but because what we were talking [44:40] about a year ago when we when we had a similar day and i expect that you're going to hear more from [44:44] us over the next several months because this for the first time at least in modern history um everybody [44:50] is working together when we talked about state ags we're talking about republicans democrats we're [44:55] talking about new york we're talking about florida is this is a chronic problem that was actually um [45:02] hurting so many people not only financially but but thievery but also hurting hurting like you heard [45:07] today the stories so look i'm not i think we we had a great year last year right a phenomenal year [45:13] this year and i expect there'll be more happening over the next um over the next year the rest of the [45:18] year and then just an off topic if i could no off topics next question and we've got a lot of people [45:24] here for this reason so we got a lot of people here for this reason that there's and they've given [45:29] up their time so next question yes he gets to ask his question on the topic that he chooses one of your [45:35] spectators are are states but with both democratic and republican leaders working with federal [45:41] authorities to identify these cases um or investigate and provide facts um i think colin do you want to [45:49] handle that yes thank you for the question and just to just to clarify last year which was a great result [45:56] by our department there were 324 defendants that were charged in last year's takedown today 455 in the [46:04] last 14 days have been charged with fraud offenses and to your question about the state participation [46:12] we have last year i believe there were 13 states that participated with us in our takedown and this [46:19] year we are in the high 40s of those who have come to the table to add their resources to come work with us [46:26] because this truly is a national problem that demands a national response and that's really driven by the [46:31] white house uh fraud task force uh which is bringing everybody together to say hey if we don't solve [46:38] it no one will uh and and folks are coming to the table to ensure that we do this work against the [46:44] fraudsters better than we've ever done it before um in the case involving the basketball player who died [46:52] and i know dr oz you were highlighting that was that resolved and solved through sort of old-fashioned [46:57] law enforcement work or were there techniques and tools that the justice department or other agencies [47:02] employed that resulted in that 89 million dollar fraud being detected there was boots on the ground [47:08] individuals went they got the records they could tell how many seconds transpired between when the [47:14] actual ekg was sent to the doctor in question and when the readout was delivered so saying that it was [47:20] normal and again i'll speak as a heart physician there's no way you could miss this diagnosis this [47:24] child's heart on autopsy was massive and if it's two and a half times bigger than your fist it looks like [47:29] that and then either the child had echocardiogram and ekg he also had dopplers of his carotids [47:35] and groins and this this doctor was practicing in multiple states which is one of the things doctors [47:40] do to hide their path they can sneak around and the mom is in florida and it's a really tragic and i [47:46] just want to highlight this is a a dead child is a dead child red state blue state it doesn't matter [47:51] and that's why i think so many states are participating because medicaid is a program that is run by the [47:55] states and having them all on board i think is a reinforcing element to the white house anti-fraud [48:00] task force are you getting cooperation from the healthcare corporations in terms of detecting this [48:08] fraud what's your relationship with the healthcare corporations are these one-offs that are just [48:13] individuals that are kind of you know sneaking through the the the the getting around the controls [48:22] or are the companies helping to detect these this fraud that's a good question who's the best to [48:27] answer that you want colin yes we have great working relationships with healthcare corporations [48:35] who are required to be alert to instances of fraud across their programs and we we collaborate with them [48:44] to make sure that we can illuminate fraudsters across the healthcare fraud healthcare portfolio [48:49] um and we encourage every healthcare corporation to come work with us to root out those who are seeking [48:57] to defraud the american people uh by exploiting our healthcare programs will you take one off-topic [49:03] question no you got to take an off any other questions all right thanks everybody for coming we [49:10] appreciate it thank you very much