The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) office of Inspector General (OIG) released a report on Monday saying it generated $5.56 billion in expected recoveries and savings over a six-month period as part of its crackdown on healthcare fraud.
The federal watchdog also reported barring more than 1,200 individuals and companies from federal programs, according to the Hill. The OIG report to Congress records returning $12.70 for every dollar it spent between October 2025 through March 2026.
“OIG is determined to hold bad actors accountable,” Inspector General T. March Bell said in the report. “Notable actions include convictions of individuals running sham hospices, identification of improper payments and vulnerabilities in emerging risk areas such as Medicaid payments for autism services, and uncovering gaps in foster care systems that contributed to failures to track and find missing children.”
Per the OIG report, much of the savings came from a few cases, including one instance of the CEO of a healthcare software company who was sentenced to 15 years in prison. He was ordered to pay $452 million in restitution after being found guilty of conspiracy for a telemedicine and durable medical equipment fraud scheme worth more than $1 billion, according to the report.
The report also cited hundreds of millions of dollars in restitution from wound graft companies, and $674 million in settlements with Kaiser Permanente affiliates and Aetna over inflated Medicare Advantage billing.
The report also cited $674 million in settlements with Kaiser Permanente and Aetna over inflated Medicare Advantage billing, as well as hundreds of millions of dollars in restitution from the owners of wound graft companies, according to the report.
OIG reported excluding 1,212 individuals or entities from the Medicare program after conducting investigations — the agency did so after 1,500 exclusions in 2025 and nearly 1,800 in 2024.
“Criminal referrals also dropped to 1,168 from 1,451 during the Biden administration,” The Hill reported.
OIG told the outlet that the final figure for each reporting period is contingent on the official outcomes of civil settlements or criminal judgements.
Katherine Hamilton is a political reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on X @thekat_hamilton.
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