Bigger reward for Medicare fraud tips

Individuals who tip off the authorities to Medicare fraud will see a huge increase in potential rewards. A recent proposed rule from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) would increase reward money for a successful tip from a maximum of $1,000 to almost $10 million.

Currently, HHS offers a reward of 10% of the total amount recovered, capped at $1,000. The proposed rule would bump the rate up to 15%, capped at $9.9 million. Over the last three years, the administration has recovered almost $15 billion in fraud, some of which resulted from reports by individuals.

HHS said the increase in reward money was based on a program run by the Internal Revenue Service that has proven to be highly successful. The proposed rule will be open to comments until June 28.