WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a move aimed at curbing government waste and improving coordination, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced a new initiative to eliminate double billing for veterans’ health care services.
The partnership follows a joint review of six years’ worth of billing records, which revealed $106 million in improper payments made to third-party providers for veterans enrolled in both VA health care and Medicare. Officials say the agencies had previously operated in isolation, lacking a mechanism to detect overlapping claims.
Beginning this month, the VA and CMS will initiate recovery efforts, sending reimbursement requests to providers who received duplicate payments.
Roughly 5.9 million veterans are eligible for both programs, and many receive care from non-VA providers. Until now, the absence of data integration allowed some providers to collect payments from both agencies for the same episodes of care.
Under the new agreement, VA and CMS have implemented a data-matching system to identify and prevent duplicate claims going forward.
“We are proud to implement this commonsense reform, which should have been instituted years ago but is only happening now under the leadership of President Trump,” said VA Secretary Doug Collins. “The money we save as a result of this effort will be much better spent helping VA and Medicare beneficiaries get the benefits they’ve earned.”
CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz emphasized the importance of interagency coordination. “For too long, government programs have operated in silos, enabling improper payments to slip through the cracks at the expense of taxpayers,” he said.
The agencies view the collaboration as a critical step toward increasing accountability and ensuring taxpayer dollars are used efficiently to support veterans and seniors.
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