On September 30th through October 2nd, The Benefits Trust attended both the Global Health Care Fraud Prevention Summit and the Canadian Health Care Anti-Fraud Association’s annual conference in Toronto, Ontario.
The summit was hosted by the Global Health Care Anti-Fraud Network (GHCAN) to foster discussion and knowledge-exchange among international thought leaders in the health care and anti-fraud sectors.
GHCAN is funded by the Canadian Health Care Anti-Fraud Association, the European Healthcare Fraud & Corruption Network, the Health Insurance Counter Fraud Group (based in the U.K.), and the National Health Care Anti-Fraud Association (based in the U.S.).
Their goal is, on an international scale, to raise awareness about health care fraud, promote cooperation and communication between organizations, share information and trends relating to fraud, develop standards of practice, and develop educational training programs.
It was our first year attending the GHCAN summit, and we were impressed by the support displayed by the international community, as well as the willingness of the police to share their knowledge and work together to prevent and catch fraud.
One of the most interesting seminars we attended was given by Dilip Soman, a professor specializing in behavioural economics at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management (click here to follow him on Twitter).
Here are some of the tips we garnered from his talk:
- People are far less likely to lie (or commit fraud) if there is a mirror present because they can see themselves lying
- People are less likely to lie if they make their declaration before making a statement (for example: signing a claim form at the top rather than the bottom might make people less likely to submit fraudulent claims)
- People are more willing to commit fraud if they are not directly receiving a monetary gain, but something like services or merchandise
When people submit fraudulent claims, they tend not to think about who is being impacted. They often believe it is a faceless corporation, but the reality is that their employers and coworkers are the ones who suffer. Health care fraud affects benefits plans. Premium costs rise, plans are more tightly limited and restricted, claims take longer to process due to audit requirements, and so on. A little education about fraud (or installing a mirror, perhaps?) can go a long way.
Health care fraud is not a local problem, but an international concern. At The Benefits Trust, we think it is important to be informed about fraud and help work toward anti-fraud solutions.
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>> To request information about our approach to preventing benefits fraud, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
