Looking for Dr. Prescribes Cash

The federal government has formed a new posse and pointed it west, which is how you know the problem has grown large enough to require both acronyms and airfare.

The Department of Justice announced a “West Coast Health Care Fraud Strike Force,” uniting prosecutors from Nevada, Arizona, and Northern California with the usual alphabet of friends, so they can hunt down those medical entrepreneurs who discovered that billing is sometimes more profitable than healing. The model has already produced over 6,200 defendants nationwide, a number large enough to suggest the illness is not rare, and the cure may require more than a press release and a conference table.

Officials promise coordination, accountability, and justice for victims. All admirable. Still, one cannot help but admire the peculiar genius of a system that pays so much money through so many hands that it must periodically assemble a task force to ask where it went.

Now, fraud is as old as the first invoice, and thieves always follow the fattest wallet. But when the wallet belongs to the Federal Government, it tends to lie open on the table with a note that says, “Do the right thing,” which is not a binding instruction in every circle.

So the Strike Force rides out, armed with statutes, subpoenas, and a firm belief that sunlight is the best disinfectant, especially in an industry that charges by the visit. One hopes they bring a lantern bright enough to see the billing codes, and a pencil sharp enough to cross off a few of them.