Health Integrity’s Scott Ward Provides Expert Testimony to Ways and Means Subcommittee on Oversight
September 28, 2016 – Health Integrity Senior Vice President Scott Ward appeared as a witness to provide testimony to the Committee on Ways and Means Subcommittee on Oversight. He joined Ms. Barbara McQuade, United States Attorney of the District of Michigan, and Mr. Abhijit Dixit, Special Agent, Office of the Inspector General (OIG), Department of Health and Human Services in providing expert testimony regarding Fraud, Waste, and Abuse in Medicare.
The Oversight Subcommittee is chaired by Congressman Peter Roskam (R-Illinois).
The Committee on Ways and Means is the oldest committee of the United States Congress, and revenue-related aspects of the Social Security system, Medicare, and social services programs have come within Ways and Means’ purview in the 20th century.
Health Integrity President Sandy Love and Senior Vice President Jaysen Eisengrein also attended the session as observers. “Scott did an amazing job providing expert testimony,” said Sandy Love. “His expertise in the field was clearly recognized by the Subcommittee members as he provided clear, concise testimony and direct, specific answers to their questions.”
As part of his testimony, Scott provided background information on Health Integrity, including staff capabilities and expertise. “Health Integrity is a trusted, experienced, and highly competent contractor for the federal government and selected states. We understand how fraud is committed and how abusive practices lead to poor and inadequate patient care and program abuses and vulnerabilities. We also know how beneficiary and provider improper actions cause wasteful expenditures of program funds and ultimately improper payments.”
The testimony was featured on the website Modern Healthcare (www.modernhealthcare.com) where Shannon Muchmore commented: “Health Integrity Senior Vice President Scott Ward said his company, which is contracted by the [federal government], establishes priorities with a matrix that considers factors such as the amount of money involved, involvement of quality of care, and type and geographic area of an allegation.”
Throughout the session (view the full video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUT0igDvsxc), members of the committee complimented all three witnesses on the valuable and excellent work their agencies were performing to recover funds distributed to fraudulent providers. Several of the members asked specifically how they could provide better data or other resources to attack the fraud that hasn’t been detected already or vindicate those providers who may be outliers, but weren’t committing fraud. They also asked for additional, concrete numbers regarding how many of the claims were determined to be fraudulent and had been prosecuted or investigated, and how many other cases of fraud go undetected and unprosecuted.
