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Health and Medical Administration

Alberto Coustasse, DrPH, MD, MBA, MPH

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Full-Text Articles in Medicine and Health Sciences

Implications Of Upcoding On Medicare, Katrina Cremeans, Samantha Marcum, Carli Followay, Jessica Oldaker, Alberto Coustasse May 2019

Implications Of Upcoding On Medicare, Katrina Cremeans, Samantha Marcum, Carli Followay, Jessica Oldaker, Alberto Coustasse

Alberto Coustasse, DrPH, MD, MBA, MPH

The complexity of and amount of funds involved in Medicare has led to a significant increase in the incidence of Medicare fraud. A type of Medicare fraud, upcoding, has contributed to excessive and unnecessary health care spending. Upcoding has been an illegal strategy that some providers have used to increase their Medicare reimbursement for certain conditions. This is accomplished by coding a provided service as a more expensive service than what was actually performed. With the proliferation of upcoding, there has been an astonishing $12.5 billion in fraudulent Medicare charges since 2007. The fraudulent strategy of upcoding to increase Medicare …


Medicare Fraud In The United States: Can It Ever Be Stopped?, Chelsea Hill, Alex Hunter, Leslie Johnson, Alberto Coustasse May 2015

Medicare Fraud In The United States: Can It Ever Be Stopped?, Chelsea Hill, Alex Hunter, Leslie Johnson, Alberto Coustasse

Alberto Coustasse, DrPH, MD, MBA, MPH

The majority of the United States health care fraud has been focused on the major public program, Medicare. The yearly financial loss from Medicare fraud has been estimated at about $54 billion. The purpose of this research study was to explore the current state of Medicare fraud in the United States, identify current policies and laws that foster Medicare fraud, and determine the financial impact of Medicare fraud. The methodology for this study was a literature review. Research was conducted using a scholarly online database search and government Web sites. The number of individuals charged with criminal fraud increased from …