In 'largest-ever' bust, Medicare Fraud Task Force arrests 111

Los Angeles Times:  Medicare Fraud Task Force Arrests 111 Doctors, Nurses And Executives In 'Largest-Ever' Federal Healthcare Sweep
The federal government's Medicare Fraud Task Force brought criminal charges Thursday against doctors, nurses and healthcare company executives - in all, 111 people in nine cities - in what was billed as the nation's "largest-ever federal healthcare fraud takedown" (Serrano, 2/17).

The Wall Street Journal:  Medicare-Fraud Crackdown Corrals 114
A health-care crime sweep Thursday netted 114 defendants on charges related to Medicare fraud, in what Attorney General Eric Holder called the largest such takedown in U.S. history (Schoofs, Tamman and Kendall, 2/18).

Bloomberg: Medicare-Fraud Suspects Arrested As U.S. Expands Task Force In Crackdown
Federal agents charged more than 100 suspects in nine cities with Medicare fraud -- the most ever in one day -- in the latest U.S. effort to crack down on schemes to bilk the health-care program for the elderly and disabled, according to the Justice Department. ... The cases involve more than $225 million in alleged false billings (Blum, 2/17).

The Associated Press: 111 Charged In Medicare Scams Worth $225 Million 
The arrests are the latest in a string of major busts in the past two years as authorities have struggled to pare the fraud that's believed to cost the government between $60 billion and $90 billion each year. Stopping Medicare's budget from hemorrhaging that money will be key to paying for President Barack Obama's health care overhaul (Yost, Hays and Anderson, 2/17).

Modern Healthcare: Feds Charge Over 100 With Medicare Fraud 
Attorney General Eric Holder and HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in a joint news conference that the arrests in the coordinated takedown are evidence that the government is getting more sophisticated at identifying billing scams that drain resources from its health programs (Blesch, 2/17).