$ 1.3B OPIOID BUST
U. S. law enforcement officials have arrested hundreds in a crackdown on fraudulent billing and illegal opioid prescription. Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe said that some doctors wrote out more prescriptions for controlled substances in one month than entire hospitals were writing. Here are the numbers:
412
The number across the U.S. charged with participating in an enormous health care fraud scam. Federal officials Thursday called it the “largest ever health care fraud enforcement action” by the Medicare Fraud Strike Force.
59,000
The number of people in the U.S. who died last year from a drug overdose. “One American dies of a drug overdose every 11 minutes and more than two million Americans are ensnared in addiction to prescription painkillers,” Attorney General Jeff Sessions said at a news conference. “This is, quite simply, an epidemic,” said Chuck Rosenberg, acting administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration.
1.3
Amount in billions of dollars that officials said was obtained by fraud by false billings, including for the prescription and distribution of opioids. Approximately 91 Americans die every day of an opioid- related overdose, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
115
Number of doctors, nurses and other licensed medical professionals who were arrested nationwide. The investigation particularly focused on medical professionals who were involved in the unlawful distribution of opioids and other prescription narcotics, officials said. The abuse of pharmaceutical opioids is widely blamed for a medical crisis involving tens of thousands of overdoses on heroin and fentanyl.
6
The number of doctors charged with operating a scheme in Michigan to prescribe unnecessary opioids, some of which were then sold on the street. The doctors allegedly billed Medicare for US$ 164 million in false claims, according to federal officials. In Houston, a clinic allegedly gave out prescriptions for cash. Officials said one doctor provided 12,000 opioid prescriptions for over two million doses. And a rehab facility for addicts in Palm Beach that is alleged to have recruited addicts with gift cards and visits to strip clubs billed the government for US$ 58 million in false treatments and tests.
1,000
Law enforcement agents involved in the busts, which happened across 30 states.