GAO Weighs In on Health Fraud
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is not monitoring its spending on health care fraud investigations as carefully as it should, according to a report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO). The report, requested by the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), found that some agents who previously were assigned to work on health care fraud had been shifted to counterterrorism efforts. The GAO said it had been told by the FBI that the bureau wasn't too concerned about not spending enough because most of the time such spending was "historically far in excess" of the budgeted amount. The GAO recommended that the FBI improve its monitoring capability and establish better reporting procedures. The bureau said it already has taken steps in that direction.