NEWARK, NJ — Assistant Attorney Gen. Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division announced on Aug. 13 the formation of the Newark/Philadelphia Regional Medicare Fraud Strike Force, a joint law enforcement effort that brings together the resources and expertise of the Health Care Fraud Unit in the Justice Department’s Criminal Division’s Fraud Section, the U.S. Attorney’s Offices for the District of New Jersey and the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, as well as law enforcement partners at the FBI, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General and U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
“The devastation the opioid epidemic is inflicting on communities across the country and here in the Mid-Atlantic region is staggering — and health care fraud has played a role in feeding that epidemic,” Benczkowski said. “It is estimated that each year tens of billions of dollars in American taxpayer money are lost to fraud, waste, abuse and improper payments. According to the CDC, in 2016, more than 40 percent of all U.S. opioid overdose deaths involved a prescription opioid. Our Medicare Fraud Strike Forces, which we have now expanded into Newark and Philadelphia, constitute one of our most important and effective means for containing these threats to the American people.”
“New Jersey is home to some of the best health care facilities and most successful pharmaceutical companies in the country,” U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito for the District of New Jersey said. “Unfortunately, that also means that we offer substantial targets for those who would try to defraud the health care system or try to profit from the misery of people battling addiction to opioids. We’ve already developed one robust unit to go after these criminals, the Healthcare & Government Fraud Unit, and I added another, the Opioids Unit, in February upon rejoining the office as U.S. Attorney. The arrival of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force in our district will serve as an additional force-multiplier and enable us to do even more of these cases, further protecting the citizens of New Jersey from this kind of fraud and abuse.”
“Medicare fraud costs our government billions of dollars,” Special Agent in Charge Gregory W. Ehrie of the Newark FBI Field Office said. “The Medicare Strike Force will aggressively target waste, fraud and abuse in federal health care programs, ameliorating the intolerable burden on the taxpayer and health care system.”
“The proven-effective strike force model combining specialized investigators and prosecutors will no doubt be highly successful in the ongoing fight against health care fraud in the District of New Jersey,” said Scott J. Lampert, special agent in charge for the Office of Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. “We look forward to working closely with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Justice Department’s Criminal Division, FBI, DEA, and other law enforcement partners to protect taxpayer-funded federal health care programs and the millions who rely on those benefits.”
“The Newark/Philadelphia Regional Medicare Fraud Strike Force is a great opportunity for collaboration with our partners to share vital information,” Valerie A. Nickerson, special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s New Jersey Division, said. “This strike force can be an effective tool to combat these crimes by combining the resources of the agencies that are responsible for detecting, enforcing and prosecuting violations of these regulations and laws.”
Prior to this announcement, the HCF Unit operated Medicare Fraud Strike Forces in 10 cities across the United States, including Miami; Los Angeles; Detroit; Houston; Brooklyn; Baton Rouge and New Orleans, La.; Tampa, Fla.; Chicago; and Dallas, Texas, along with a corporate strike force located in Washington, D.C.
The Regional Strike Force will be made up of prosecutors and data analysts with the HCF Unit, prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney’s Offices for the District of New Jersey and Eastern District of Pennsylvania, and special agents with the FBI, HHS-OIG and DEA. In addition, the regional strike force will work closely with other various federal law enforcement agencies, including the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and IRS Criminal Investigation, and State Medicaid Fraud Control Units. The strike force will focus its efforts on aggressively investigating and prosecuting cases involving fraud, waste and abuse within federal health care programs, and cases involving illegal prescribing and distribution of opioids and other dangerous narcotics.
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