Medicaid Prescription Drug Fraud Abounds, According to GAO Report
A Government Accountability Office report released today reveals that state and federal officials have failed to uncover millions of dollars in Medicaid prescription drug abuse. Specifically, the report covers an audit of the government-run health care assistant program in five large states – California, Illinois, New York, North Carolina, and Texas – and found approximately 65,000 instances of beneficiaries improperly obtaining prescription drugs at a cost of about $65 million during 2006 and 2007. This includes thousands of prescriptions written for dead patients, or written by individuals posing as doctors. Often, the prescriptions were written by doctors and pharmacists who had been banned from participating in Medicaid, some for illegally selling drugs.
The GAO audit focused on 10 types of frequently-abused prescription drugs, specifically painkillers and mood-altering medications.
According to the Ann Kohler, director of the National Association of State Medicaid Directors, states are working to prevent such abuse but there are “significant issues that must be addressed.” For example, tight state budgets have resulted in limited enforcement resources.
