Improper Payments Cost Taxpayers Billons of Dollars Each Year

"Improper Payments"
Testimony  of:
Daniel R. Levinson
Inspector General
U.S. Department of Health & Human Services




In 2010, the Office of  Management and Budget (OMB) designated 14 programs as "higherror" based on improper payment information included in agencies' anual performance and
financial reports. HHS administers five of  these high-error programs - Medicare Fee-forService, Medicaid, Medicare Advantage, Children's Health Insurance Program, and Medicare
Prescription Drug Benefit. For fiscal year 2010, HHS reported improper payments totaling $56.8
bilion in Medicare Fee-for-Service and Medicaid alone.
OIG has long been at the forefront of measuring, monitoring, and recommending
actions to prevent improper payments, including developing the first Medicare payment error
rate in 1996, a time when there were few existing error rate models in Governent. OIG
identifies improper payments for specific products and services, assesses internal control and
payment vulnerabilities, and makes recommendations to prevent future improper payments. To
1
u.s. House of  Representatives, Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education,
and Related Agencies, March 17, 2011maximize the impact ofthese reviews, we assess program risks and employ data analysis to
target our audits, evaluations, and investigations.


To read the entire report please visit         


http://appropriations.house.gov/_files/031711DanielRLevinson.pdf