U.S. Attorney's Office Hosts Meeting Of  Western District Health Care Fraud Working Group

Charlotte -- December 3, 2024: Press Release: U.S. Attorney's Office, Western District of North Carolina

Multi-Agency Partnership Continues Efforts to Combat Health Care Fraud and Protect Taxpayer Dollars

U.S. Attorney Dena J. King announced today the annual meeting of the Western District’s Health Care Fraud Working Group, a partnership of federal and state agencies focused on combating health care fraud and protecting taxpayer dollars in the Western District of North Carolina.

The working group comprises investigators, analysts, auditors, and attorneys from state and federal agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG), the Food and Drug Administration’s Office of Criminal Investigations (FDA-OCI), the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General (VA-OIG), the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS), the North Carolina Attorney General’s Medicaid Investigations Division, the North Carolina Department of Insurance, the South Carolina Medicaid Investigations Division, and the Office of Personnel Management.

At today’s meeting, U.S. Attorney King reaffirmed the importance of collaboration among the partner agencies and recognized their contributions.

“Health care fraud undermines public trust, exploits vulnerable patients, and siphons billions from taxpayer-funded programs,” said U.S. Attorney King. “By combining our expertise and resources we can detect, dismantle, and prosecute health care fraud schemes and protect vital government programs that so many North Carolinians rely upon for their health care needs. I am grateful to our partner agencies for their dedication to protect our health care system and hold perpetrators accountable.”

The Health Care Fraud Working Group’s mission is to detect health care fraud through coordinated investigations, information sharing, identification of existing and emerging schemes, and case development. This includes uncovering schemes of fraudulent billing, COVID-19-related fraud, kickback schemes, and fraud targeting government health care programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and TRICARE. The working group also focuses on fraud committed by both corporate entities and individuals, including hospitals, telemedicine companies and providers, nursing home chains, pharmacies and pharmaceutical manufacturers, durable medical equipment suppliers, physicians, therapists, and affiliated health care professionals.

If you suspect Medicare or Medicaid fraud, please report it by phone at 1-800-HHS-TIPS (1-800-447-8477), or via email atHHSTips@oig.hhs.gov.

To report Medicaid fraud in North Carolina, call the North Carolina Medicaid Investigations

Division at 919-881-2320 or fill out an online complaint form 

TRICARE fraud can be reported here

Fraud against the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs healthcare system can be reported at vaoig.gov/hotline/online-forms

Image: U.S. Attorney's Office