The Senior Medicare Patrol, or SMP, programs help Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries avoid, detect, and prevent health care fraud. In doing so, they not only protect older persons, they also help preserve the integrity of the Medicare and Medicaid programs.
SMP works! In November 2010, the National Health Care Anit-Fraud Association recognized SMP and the U.S. Administration on Aging with an "Excellence in Public Awareness" award. Overall, the nation's 54 SMP programs have helped Medicare, Medicaid and other payers $101 million since 1997, monies that would have otherwise been lost to fraudulent claims.
Because this work often requires face-to-face contact to be most effective, SMPs nationwide recruit and teach 4,500 volunteers every year to help in this effort. Most SMP volunteers are both retired and Medicare beneficiaries and thus well-positioned to assist their peers.
SMP staff and their highly trained volunteers conduct outreach to Medicare beneficiaries in their communities through group presentations, exhibiting at community events, answering calls to the SMP help lines and one-on-one counseling.
Their primary goal is to teach Medicare beneficiaries how to protect their personal identity, identify and report errors on their health care bills, and identify deceptive health care practices, such as illegal marketing, providing unnecessary or inappropriate services and charging for services that were never provided.
In some cases, SMPs do more than educate: When Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries are unable to act on their own behalf to address these problems, the SMPs work with family caregivers and others to address the problems, and if necessary, make referrals to outside organizations who are able to intervene.
Everyone has a stake in protecting the Medicare Trust Fund. Would you like to be a better consumer and learn about Medicare Fraud and Abuse? Would you like to share with others how THEY can protect themselves from healthcare fraud? Contact Tamra Simpson at 317.205.9201 or your local Area Agency on Aging at 800.986.3505.
Remember to PROTECT your personal information, DETECT errors in billing, and REPORT suspected fraud to 800.986.3505.
Last Updated November 2010 | 
