Fox Watching The Hen House

Health and Human Services is in danger of hiring foxes to watch its henhouses. A new inspector general report found HHS was accepting bids from fraud detection contractors with financial interests in the claims processors they would be hired to monitor. The IG said the bidding evaluation system at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services was flawed. Auditors looked at 100 bids over an 18 month period. It found 2,000 instances of potential conflicts of interest. The IG recommended stronger and clearer policies. CMS said it thoroughly vets all bidders.