SMP Program (Senior Medicare Patrol)

The Senior Medicare Patrol (SMP) Program is administered by the Area Agency on Aging through a grant from the U. S. Administration on Aging to educate and empower beneficiaries to take an active role in the detection and prevention of health care fraud and abuse, with a focus on the Medicare and Medicaid programs.

In order to accomplish this the program recruits, trains and guides retired professionals as volunteers to help seniors become better healthcare consumers. The volunteers work in their own communities where seniors congregate. They strive to educate beneficiaries on how to monitor what is paid on their behalf and to identify deceptive health care practices, such as, bundling charges to hide non-covered fees, filing bogus claims for products or services never rendered, altering billing codes to inflate Medicare and Medicaid claims and ordering unnecessary or inappropriate products or services to increase revenues.

SMP staff and trained volunteers:

• partner with the aging services network, law enforcement, and others to promote community awareness of health care errors, fraud and abuse;
• develop and distribute consumer education materials about Medicare, Medicaid and fraud, errors and abuse through presentations, health fairs, and press events (see below);
• provide consumer counseling, and when necessary serve as consumer advocates to resolve billing disputes/ issues;
• make appropriate referral to health care agencies and law enforcement for suspected cases of errors, fraud or abuse; and
• support technical assistance efforts designed to share and replicate common strategies and successful practices.

This program has been in operation since 1999, in Pinellas, Pasco and Hillsborough counties, and began expansion into the remaining counties of the state in July 2005. Partner agencies help distribute SMP publications as well as provide presentations about the program.

SMP operates a toll-free fraud hotline, 1-866-357-6677, for the public to ask questions and report suspected fraudulent activity on their health care accounts; to schedule a presentation; or to become an SMP volunteer. (Hablamos Espanol)

DON'T BE A VICTIM OF MEDICARE OR MEDICAID

FRAUD AND ABUSE

REMEMBER THESE 3 R's

Record visits, lab work and hospital stays in a journal or calendar.

Review your Medicare Summary Notice (MSN) or health care billing statement.

Your Medicare Summary Notice is the piece of mail stamped "This is Not a Bill" that arrives after you get medical care.Compare your MSN to your journal entries.

Check your statement or MSN for:

• Charges for services or products you did not receive.
• Double billing for a product or service.
• Services not ordered by the Doctor

Report suspected errors, fraud or abuse you find on your Medicare or Medicaid account, gather the facts and call the Senior Medicare and Medicaid Patrol at 1-866-357-6677, FLORIDA'S FRAUD HOTLINE.

For more information, see the Medicare/ Medicaid section of this website.

This Project, Grant Number 90AM2939, was supported, in part, by a grant from the Administration on Aging, Department of Health and Human Services. Grantees undertaking projects under government sponsorship are encouraged to express freely their findings and conclusions. Points of view or opinions do not, therefore, necessarily represent official Administration on Aging policy.