Medicare fraud and abuse could mean more patient deaths and hospitalizations

A retrospective study finds that patients who receive care from physicians who commit Medicare fraud or patient abuse have a higher rate of mortality and hospitalization than those who are treated by doctors without those records. Looking at data from more than 8,200 patients who were treated by those who would turn out to have been defrauding Medicare or engaging in other harmful behavior, researchers found that these patients had between a 13%-23% higher risk of dying during the study follow-up period than those who weren’t treated by physicians who engaged in risky behavior. Patients treated by those found to be engaging in some kind of illegal activity also had between 11%-30% higher rates of emergency hospitalizations. In addition to the financial savings to Medicare, identifying perpetrators could also improve patients’ health, the authors suggest.