Fraud, waste and abuse prevention
At Clear Health Alliance, we have a zero-tolerance policy on fraud, waste and abuse (FWA), and everyone is responsible to make a difference. Our mission is to protect the overall integrity of the health care system, as well as to protect our members, providers, business partners and stakeholders by administering a comprehensive and effective anti-fraud plan to prevent, detect, investigate and resolve allegations of potential FWA. Please reference 42 CFR 438.608 for full details.
What do we mean by fraud, waste and abuse?
A false representation of a matter of fact — whether by words or by conduct, by false or misleading allegations, or by concealment of what should have been disclosed — that deceives and is intended to deceive another so that the individual will act upon his or her legal injury
WasteAn attempt to obtain reimbursement for items or services where there was no intent to deceive or misrepresent, but the outcome of a billing error caused unnecessary costs to the involved companies; waste includes overuse of services not caused by criminally negligent actions or the misuse of resources
AbuseProvider practices that are inconsistent with generally accepted business or medical practices and that result in an unnecessary cost to the Medicaid or Medicare program or in reimbursement for goods or services that are not medically necessary or that fail to meet professionally recognized standards for health care or recipient practices that result in unnecessary cost to the Medicaid or Medicare program
Other terms defined
Services not rendered
Billing for goods and services that were never delivered or provided
Not medically necessary
Performing inappropriate or unnecessary medical procedures in order to increase payment
Unbundling
Using multiple billing codes instead of one billing code for a drug panel test in order to increase payment
Upcoding
Billing for a higher level of service than was actually provided
Misrepresentation
Forging a physician's signature to obtain pharmaceutical goods
Double billing
Charging more than once for the same goods or services
Underuse
Not providing adequate medical care to increase profits
Enrollment fraud
Enrolling a beneficiary into a health plan without that person's knowledge
Theft of services
Using someone else's insurance card to receive services either through stealing the card or having it provided by the true card holder
Overpayment
In accordance with s. 409.913, F.S., overpayment includes any amount that is not authorized to be paid by the Medicaid program whether paid as a result of inaccurate or improper cost reporting, improper claiming, unacceptable practices, fraud, abuse or mistake.
Reporting health care FWA
If you have a reason to believe FWA may have been committed, please contact us immediately. Together we can make a difference.
- Call the Confidential Compliance and FWA Hotline at 1-877-253-9251.
- Email us at SIU@simplyhealthcareplans.com.
Last Updated: August 1, 2018