A Message To
All SSA and DDS Employees
Subject:
Fraud Prevention and You
Date:
January 15, 2015
The
Department of Justice in Puerto Rico today announced the indictment of 40
individuals, including a medical provider, on charges relating to SSA
disability fraud. These indictments demonstrate the effectiveness of our
numerous fraud detection and prevention initiatives, which rely heavily on the
continued vigilance of our SSA and DDS employees. SSA employees
identified and reported this potential fraud to our Office of the Inspector
General (OIG), and provided analysis to OIG during the investigation. The
success of the investigation and the resulting indictments can be directly
attributed to the ongoing partnership and collaboration among SSA, the DDSs,
OIG, and the Department of Justice .
Preserving
the public’s trust in our programs and reducing improper payments is a critical
element of our work. As you know, one of the key elements of our
strategic plan is to prevent fraud, waste, and abuse. We take pride in
our efforts to reduce improper payments as we aggressively seek to ensure that
only those entitled to benefits receive them.
We have
undertaken a number of measures recently to combat fraud and abuse in the
disability program, including:
- The
establishment of the Office of Anti-Fraud Programs to lead our anti-fraud
efforts;
- The
re-establishment of our National Anti-Fraud Committee;
- A
significant increase in the number of Continuing Disability Reviews (CDR)
we complete;
- A
significant expansion in the number of Cooperative Disability
Investigations (CDI) Units, as well as increasing our staff in many
existing Units;
- Anti-fraud
training for all SSA and DDS employees;
- The
establishment of robust data analytics capacity to enhance fraud
detection;
- The
establishment of three Fraud Prevention Units made up of expert disability
examiners who review and act on potential fraud cases; and
- An
increase in the number of our attorneys who serve as Special Assistant
United States Attorneys dedicated to prosecuting Social Security fraud.
Our first
line of defense is each of you! I cannot over-emphasize the importance of
reporting suspicious or questionable facts that come to your attention in the
course of your daily work. As individuals become more adept at
discovering ways to try to defraud SSA, we must be even more vigilant and
attentive to details that may suggest fraud, including those that we may not
ordinarily consider.
The following
is information about identifying and reporting suspected fraud that you may
find helpful.
- POMS GN
004100ff [this section of POMS must not be available to the public since the link doesn't work] provides additional information on fraud awareness and
reporting.
- The
electronic 8551 (e8551) is used by SSA and the DDSs to report allegations
directly to OIG. A link to the e8551 can be found at: Reporting
Fraud e8551 [again, the form must not be available to the public].
- For the
public, we have set up a special Puerto Rico CDI Hotline to report Program
fraud in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
- For all
other public reporting, the OIG fraud Hotline: 1-800-269-0271 is
available (10 AM to 4 PM EST).
- For
additional public reporting options, please refer to http://oig.ssa.gov/.
I want to
reassure you that SSA is fully committed to working with our Federal and State
partners to ensure that we vigorously pursue prosecution of individuals or
groups who attempt to defraud our programs. I want to thank each of you
for the work you perform to support our mission and remind you that, if you see
something suspicious or questionable, please do not keep it to yourself.
Report it!
Pete Spencer
Co-Chair
National
Anti-Fraud Committee
