AoA Programs

The HHS Office of Inspector General (OIG) estimates that billions of dollars are loss annually due to health care fraud, errors and abuse. Since 1997, the U.S. Administration on Aging (AoA) has worked in partnership with the HHS OIG, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the Department of Justice, AARP, and community-based organizations to address this serious national problem.

Since 1997 AoA has funded Senior Medicare Patrol (SMP) projects to recruit and train retired professionals and other senior citizens on Medicare and Medicaid error, fraud and abuse. These volunteers work in their communities, senior centers and elsewhere to educate Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries, family members, and caregivers to actively protect themselves against fraudulent, wasteful and abusive health care practices by reviewing their Medicare Summary Notices and reporting suspected fraud or errors.

Currently, the SMP Program fund projects in all states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Island. SMP projects disseminate SMP fraud prevention and identification information through media, outreach campaigns, community events, and partnerships. As a result of these efforts, beneficiaries contact the SMP projects with inquiries and complaints regarding Medicare, Medicaid and other health care or related consumer issues. Another key role of SMP projects is to address such complaints, either by resolving matters directly or by referrals to CMS or other appropriate entities for further investigation.

The OIG has collected and reported SMP activities and performance results since the program’s inception in 1997. SMP project efforts have resulted in:

• $105.2 million in savings attributable to SMP project
• Over 18 million people reached during community education events
• Almost 2.9 million beneficiaries educated
• Over 68,000 volunteers trained
• Close to 87,000 complaints received as a result of outreach and educational efforts

The National Consumer Protection Technical Resource Center (the Center), an AoA grantee, provides training and technical support to SMP projects. The Center disseminates best practices and innovations; current fraud alerts and maintains the SMP locator.

For further SMP program information, materials and resources on health care fraud, and to locate your state SMP project office, please visit the Center’s website at www.smpresource.org.