PYA Helps Launch New Column on Fraud

An article on health care fraud by PYA’s Lauren E. Davis is the inaugural column of a new feature in the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners’ magazine.

Writing on the effect of fraud and rising health care costs, Davis uses recent cases to make the point that schemes against private and public insurance companies result in rising premiums and out-of-pocket costs for consumers. Her article, “Growing health care fraud drastically affects all of us,” appears in the September/October issue of Fraud Magazine.

The economic cost of health care fraud is estimated to range from three to 10 percent – $68 to $260 billion annually – of all spending for health care in the United States, the article says.

“The fundamental step in fighting this ongoing battle is rooted in the education and deterrence of all players, from individual patients and medical providers to national insurers and administrators,” Davis says. “We must work to change the perception that health care fraud doesn’t impact our lives and that this type of fraud can go on undetected without consequences.”

Davis, a PYA consulting manager, is a Certified Fraud Examiner and an Accredited Senior Appraiser with the American Society of Appraisers.