health care fraud


Today at a Committee on Finance subcommittee hearing, Sen. Chuck Grassley, ranking member of the Finance Committee, asked Tom Scully, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, about the agency's workings with the Department of Justice on the Columbia HCA fraud case. Grassley made the following comment about the exchange.

"Tom Scully today mentioned differences of legal opinion between the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Justice Department over prosecuting the Columbia HCA fraud case. Mr. Scully's comments greatly concerned me. The Justice Department is the nation's lawyer. As such, the Justice Department is responsible for protecting the taxpayers against fraud. CMS absolutely cannot undermine the Justice Department's ability to police health care fraud. I'll aggressively pursue this with Mr. Scully and the Justice Department."