June 8, 2009
MEDICARE FRAUD ALERT

Practitioners need to be aware of a scam targeting Medicare providers. The scam involves a fax or mailing instructing a provider to complete
re-enrollment forms within 48 hours or risk payment interruption. The forms contain sensitive information.

These requests are not coming from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) but from scammers who take the information, reregister the provider with Medicare and then reroute their payments to the scammers’ accounts. Several days later the accounts are closed and the money leaves the country.

If you receive this type of fax or mailing, call the purported sender (CMS, your Medicare contractor, your Program Safeguard Contractor, or your Zone Program Integrity Contractor) to verify that they requested the information.

Do NOT automatically send it in.