The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) are partnering on data analytics to identify and prevent fraud, waste, and abuse.
The VA and CMS will share data, data analytics tools, and best practices. In particular, the VA plans to capitalize on the advances that CMS has made in analytics by concentrating on its use of advanced technology, statistics, and data analytics to improve fraud detection and prevention efforts, according to CMS.
"We have a special obligation to keep America's promise to those who have served our country and ensure that veterans receive high-quality and accessible healthcare," said CMS Administrator Seema Verma in a statement. "CMS is sharing lessons learned and expertise to support VA to identify waste and fraud and eliminate these abuses of the public trust. Using state-of-the-art data analytics, CMS is partnering with VA to better detect and prevent wrongdoing in its programs."
The VA will be able to close existing gaps in its claims payment process by using the successes of CMS in its own program integrity protocols, CMS said.
In addition, the VA will invite industry experts in April to demonstrate their capabilities in detecting and preventing fraud, waste, and abuse, as well as for recovering improper payments. In November 2017, industry experts provided the VA with information on their commercial sector tools and techniques for enhancing the department's fraud detection capabilities.
