The Justice Department has created a West Coast Health Care Fraud Strike Force targeting health care fraud in Arizona, Nevada, and the San Francisco area in Northern California.
The multi-district enforcement effort will bring together the department’s Health Care Fraud Section with U.S. Attorney’s Offices in the District of Arizona, District of Nevada, and Northern District of California, the Justice Department announced April 30.
The department said the strike force model has been used nationally to prosecute more than 6,200 defendants accused of collectively billing federal health care programs and private insurers more than $45 billion.
Officials said the new West Coast effort is driven by data showing a significant increase in health care fraud across the three districts, including technology-driven schemes in Silicon Valley and fraud operations migrating to Arizona and Nevada….