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Press Releases
February 8, 1999
Contact: Moya Benoit Thompson 202-401-4541
AoA Announces Grant Competition To Train Senior Volunteers On Combating Health Care Waste, Fraud & Abuse
Jeanette C. Takamura, Assistant Secretary for Aging in the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), has announced the availability of funding opportunities to train retired persons as volunteer expert resources and educators in community efforts to combat waste, fraud, and abuse in the Medicare and Medicaid programs.
In announcing the funding opportunities, Takamura noted that the Inspector General estimates that Medicare loses more than $20 billion each year due to waste, fraud, and abuse. "While the vast majority of health care providers are honest," Takamura said, "those operating unscrupulously in this arena have done so believing that the risks of detection have lessened over the years. This grant program underscores the contributions older Americans continue to make to our country, by enabling them to work closely with their family members and peers to prevent and halt this drain on our health care system."
The program announcement, which appeared in the January 28, 1999, Federal Register, seeks to expand nationwide a successful demonstration program currently operating in 12 states -- California, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin. These projects have tested different models which have trained thousands of retired volunteers to serve as resources and educators for older persons in their communities. The training focuses on reviewing health care benefit statements and outlining the steps seniors can take to protect themselves from waste, fraud, and abuse.
"The grant program will be an important component of the Administration’s interdisciplinary partnership to combat Medicare waste, fraud, and abuse, which includes DHHS’ Office of Inspector General, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (formerly the Health Care Financing Administration), and Administration on Aging," Takamura said. "In fiscal year 1997 alone, anti-fraud and abuse efforts saved more than $7.5 billion, and, combined with the efforts of our law enforcement partners, returned another $1 billion to the Medicare trust fund."
Takamura announced that the Administration on Aging plans to fund up to forty additional projects, targeting one in each state, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, which do not currently have a community volunteer project in operation. Public and/or nonprofit agencies, organizations, and institutions are eligible to apply under this program announcement. However, consistent with the terms of Senate Report 105-300, which accompanies the Omnibus Consolidated Appropriations Act of 1999 (P.L.105-277), preference will be given in the making of awards to consortia headed by community-based public or non-profit agencies or organizations.
Application kits are available by writing to the Department of Health and Human Services, Administration on Aging, Office of Governmental Affairs and Elder Rights, 330 Independence Avenue, SW, Room 4748, Washington, D.C. 20201, or by telephone at 202-619-7592 or 202-690-7525. The deadline date for the submission of applications is March 31, 1999.
"The grant announcement underscores our commitment to launching a nationwide ‘people’s campaign’ which helps to maintain the integrity of the Medicare trust fund by enabling older Americans to work closely with their family members, friends, and neighbors to fight health care waste, fraud, and abuse," Takamura said.
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