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In the first eight months of fiscal year 2011, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has prosecuted 903 cases of healthcare fraud, according to a recent report by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse. Assuming the government prosecutions continue at such pace, the report projects a total of 1,400 healthcare prosecutions for fiscal year 2011, an 85 percent increase over fiscal year 2010. Such a dramatic increase in prosecutions can be at least partially attributed to the work of the joint DOJ-Health and Human Services Medicare Fraud Strike Force (Strike Force). The Strike Force is a team of federal, state and local investigators designed to combat Medicare fraud through the use of Medicare data analysis techniques and an increased focus on community policing. Since their inception in March 2007, Strike Force operations in nine locations have charged more than 1,140 defendants who collectively have been accused of falsely billing the Medicare program for more than $2.9 billion.
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