About the Senior Medicare Patrol
The Senior Medicare Patrol (SMP) is a group of highly trained volunteers who teach others about health care fraud. SMP volunteers show Medicare and Medicaid recipients how to protect against, detect, and report fraud.
We believe that working with healthcare users to prevent fraud will:
- Protect our citizens’ health
- Protect their health benefits
- Strengthen Medicare and Medicaid
Learn more about SMPs .
Who are SMP volunteers?
SMP volunteers are seniors and professionals such as doctors, nurses, accountants, investigators, law enforcement personnel, attorneys, and teachers. Volunteers use their time and experience to help people with Medicare and Medicaid:
- Protect their identity
- Read their Medicare Summary Notices
- Avoid falling for scams
They work one-on-one with beneficiaries, give presentations to groups, and represent the SMP at events.
Want to volunteer for the SMP?
If you’re interested in volunteering, contact your local SMP. Use the National Consumer Protection Technical Resource Center’s locator tool to find the SMP office nearest you.
Learn more about volunteering .
Use our fraud-fighting toolkit to find brochures, posters, ads, and public service announcements to share with others to help spread the word.
What have SMPs accomplished?
Senior Medicare Patrol projects had more than 5,600 active volunteers in 2011. They:
- Taught more than 11,100 groups of beneficiaries, educating more than 4.3 million Medicare recipients
- Held more than 66,000 one-on-one sessions
- Referred more than 800 complaints for investigation
Since 1997, SMP projects have:
- Trained more than 30,000 volunteers
- Taught more than 3.5 million people receiving benefits
- Received more than 300,000 complaints for investigation
- Recorded more than $106 million in savings. These savings include funds recovered by Medicare and Medicaid. They also include money saved by people receiving benefits.
(Source: June 2012 Performance Report—Office of Inspector General)