Grassley Pressures CMS and DOJ to Increase Scrutiny of Medicare Advantage Plans

On May 19, Senator Charles Grassley sent letters to Attorney General Loretta Lynch (here) and to the Acting Administrator of CMS (here) demanding information concerning fraud investigations involving Medicare Advantage plans. The letters cite news reports suggesting that some Medicare Advantage plans are fraudulently manipulating risk scores, which reflect the acuity of their patient populations are used to determine reimbursement from CMS. Asserting that “risk score gaming [has] caused approximately $70 billion in improper Medicare Advantage payments,” Senator Grassley requests that CMS and DOJ articulate what steps they are taking to address fraudulent altering of risk scores, how many investigations of risk score fraud have been conducted within the last five years, and what administrative or enforcement actions have been taken to address risk score fraud.

These letters are significant because Senator Grassley is Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, one of the architects of the modern False Claims Act, and a founder of the recently-formed Senate Whistleblower Protection Caucus. While there have been relatively few unsealed False Claims Act cases against Medicare Advantage plans, we expect the volume of such suits to accelerate over the coming years as federal spending continues to increase.