MASSDEVICE ON CALL — Researchers say a "significant percent" of the $3.62 billion that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid spent on orthotics and prosthetics between 2007-2011 went to unlicensed providers. Agency attempts to stem the fraud have only served to strangle legitimate providers in red tape, according to the American Orthotic Prosthetic Assn.
Billions of Medicare dollars went to "providers who Congress specifically intended to exclude from eligibility for payments," according to an AOPA report.