Dr. Oz Announces Major Victory Against Medicare Fraud and Waste [WATCH]

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz and CMS Chief Operating Officer Kim Brandt announced a sweeping effort to combat fraud involving durable medical equipment suppliers, revealing that hundreds of companies have either had Medicare payments suspended or lost their billing privileges as part of a nationwide enforcement initiative.

The announcement comes after the White House’s anti-fraud task force launched a nationwide effort targeting fraud within the durable medical equipment, or DME, industry. Officials said the initiative has already resulted in action against suppliers responsible for billing more than $1.5 billion to Medicare.

During the announcement, Dr. Oz highlighted what he described as a dramatic increase in billing activity in Wisconsin.

“Durable medical equipment and Kim, you want to come up here?” Dr. Oz said.

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“This is, by the way, wheelchairs and braces and diabetic supplies and similar products. Wisconsin, I should point out, this beautiful state, a 40% increase in durable medical equipment supplying bills over the last two years. Kim, what’s going on here?”

Brandt responded by explaining that the effort began shortly after the President’s State of the Union address, when Vice President JD Vance announced the formation of the administration’s anti-fraud task force.

“Sure. So the day after the State of the Union this year, when the new anti-fraud task force was announced, the vice president announced a nationwide moratorium on all new durable medical equipment suppliers to give us time to catch up on the fraud in DME,” Brandt said.

She used South Florida as an example of what officials found during their investigation into the industry.

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“So I’ll tell you this: in South Florida alone, there are twice as many durable medical equipment suppliers as there are McDonald’s. Think about that just for a minute,” Brandt said.

Brandt then announced the results of CMS’ enforcement efforts.

“So today, we are happy to announce that CMS has subsequently suspended, meaning we have stopped paying Medicare payments to over 100 durable medical equipment suppliers, and revoked, meaning stopped billing altogether the billing privileges of an additional 725 suppliers,” she said.

Brandt characterized the affected companies as major participants in the Medicare system.

“We’re talking about massive operators here. This is a big thing,” Brandt said.

According to Brandt, the companies targeted in the enforcement action had collectively submitted an enormous volume of Medicare claims.

“Altogether, those firms that I just mentioned have billed the Medicare program over 1.5 billion dollars,” she said.

Brandt said CMS believes the enforcement effort has significantly reduced fraudulent activity involving durable medical equipment nationwide.

“What’s exciting about this is, with that amount, we have wiped out the majority of durable medical equipment fraud in America,” Brandt said.

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Durable medical equipment includes products such as wheelchairs, braces, diabetic testing supplies and other medical devices frequently prescribed for patients receiving Medicare benefits.

Because Medicare pays billions of dollars annually for such equipment, the industry has long been considered vulnerable to fraudulent billing schemes involving unnecessary products, phantom suppliers and false claims.

The administration’s nationwide moratorium on new durable medical equipment suppliers was designed to give federal investigators time to identify fraudulent operators before allowing additional companies into the Medicare billing system.

Officials said suspending Medicare payments immediately prevents taxpayer dollars from flowing to suppliers under investigation, while revoking billing privileges removes companies from the Medicare program altogether.

The latest actions represent one of the largest enforcement efforts announced by CMS against the durable medical equipment industry and form part of the Trump administration’s broader campaign to reduce fraud across federal healthcare programs.

During the announcement, Dr. Oz and Brandt emphasized that the effort is intended to protect both Medicare beneficiaries and taxpayers while preserving access to legitimate medical equipment providers that serve patients across the country.

The administration has continued to describe healthcare fraud as a major priority, with federal officials pledging additional enforcement actions as investigations into Medicare billing practices continue.

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