Performance Data for the Senior Medicare Patrol Projects: May 2011 Performance Report

The Senior Medicare Patrol Projects receive grants from AoA to recruit retired professionals to serve as educators and resources in helping beneficiaries to detect and report fraud, waste, and abuse in the Medicare program. At least 1 project is located in each of the 50 States, as well as in the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Virgin Islands.

In 2010, the 55 Senior Medicare Patrol Projects had 4,964 active volunteers. These volunteers educated beneficiaries in 8,300 group education sessions and held 70,789 one-on-one counseling sessions. Medicare funds recovered that were attributable to the projects were $22,262 and total savings to Medicare, Medicaid, beneficiaries, and others were $39,031. The projects had almost a 12-percent increase in the number of active volunteers in 2010, compared to the number in 2009. Despite this fact, total savings to Medicare, Medicaid, beneficiaries, and others decreased from $214,060 in 2009 to $39,031 in 2010, for an 82-percent decrease.

We continue to emphasize that the number of beneficiaries who have learned from the Senior Medicare Patrol Projects to detect fraud, waste, and abuse, and who subsequently call the OIG fraud hotline or other contacts cannot be tracked. Therefore, the projects may not be receiving full credit for savings attributable to their work. In addition, the projects are unable to track substantial savings derived from a sentinel effect whereby fraud and errors are reduced by Medicare beneficiaries' scrutiny of their bills.