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January
10, 2007
Washington, DC – In an effort to enhance its
national identity and foster greater awareness, the
national Senior Medicare Patrol Program has officially
adopted a new program identity. The Senior Medicare
Patrol Program is now officially referred to as the
SMP program. Included in this effort is the new program
logo and official tagline: “Empowering Seniors
to Prevent Healthcare Fraud.”
The SMP program, funded by the U.S. Administration
on Aging (AoA), is a national network of 58,000 trained
volunteers and counselors in community-based projects
to help older Americans avoid unintended errors and
detect deliberate abuses in Medicare. The SMP program
volunteers and counselors are located in every state,
the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam and the
Virgin Islands.
“The adoption of a new national identity is
a promising new direction for the SMP program, which
will help to unify best efforts in preventing healthcare
fraud,” said Barbara Dieker, director of AoA’s
Office of Consumer Choice and Protection. “Our
new program tagline: Empowering
Seniors to Prevent Healthcare Fraud, better captures the current mission,
role and activities of our program.”
Local SMP programs across the country utilize the
skills and expertise of retired individuals and community
leaders, such as doctors, nurses, lawyers and every
day citizens to educate seniors about how to take an
active role in the detection, prevention and reporting
of health care errors, fraud and abuse. Improper Medicare
payments alone were estimated to cost the taxpayer
approximately $10.8 billion in FY 2006.
In 2005, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Inspector
General reported the following SMP program accomplishments:
- SMP volunteers and staff reached 483,432
people through presentations and one-on-one counseling
sessions, and another 1.2 million through 10,664
community education events.
- As a result of educating beneficiaries,
the projects have received 27,900 complaints of potential
error, fraud or abuse, which have been referred to
CMS contractors, the OIG and other appropriate entities
for further investigation.
The Arkansas SMP project, administered
by the Department of Health & Human Services, Division
of Aging and Adult Services (DAAS) has collaborated
with Arkansas Literacy Councils, Retired Seniors Volunteer
Programs, Area Agencies on Aging, and other advocates
for seniors to bring the fraud prevention message to
older Arkansans, according to John Pollett, Program
Administrator for the Arkansas project. The project
also maintains the ASMP Hotline to assist seniors with
healthcare fraud complaints or inquiries.
If you have questions or concerns about healthcare
fraud, are interested in volunteering, or would like
to schedule a speaker to provide more information about
the Arkansas SMP, call the ASMP
Hotline at 866-726-2916.
For more information about the SMP program, you may
also visit www.smpresource.org
Arkansas SMP
Department of Health & Human Services
Division of Aging & Adult Services
P.O. box 1437, Slot S-530
Little Rock, AR 72203
Hotline: 1-866-726-2916 |
