Putting Patients First by Strengthening Provider Accountability in Feca Act

Text in the Record

Mr. WALBERG. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 8823) to amend the Federal Employees Compensation Act to allow the Secretary of Labor to suspend payments to medical providers who have been convicted of fraud, as amended. The Clerk read the title of the bill. The text of the bill is as follows:

H.R. 8823

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ``Putting Patients First by Strengthening Provider Accountability in FECA Act''.

SEC. 2. FRAUD CONVICTIONS.

(a) In General.--Section 8103 of title 5, United States Code, is amended-- (1) in subsection (a), by striking ``These expenses'' and inserting ``Subject to subsection (c), these expenses''; (2) in subsection (b), by striking ``The Secretary, under'' and inserting ``Subject to subsection (c), the Secretary, under''; and (3) by adding at the end the following: ``(c)(1) The Secretary of Labor may suspend payments to a provider of services, appliances, or supplies furnished pursuant to subsection (a), or vouchers or certifications described in subsection (b) for the expenses incurred by the employing agency with respect to such a provider, if the provider has been convicted of fraud with respect to-- ``(A) this subchapter; ``(B) any Federal health care benefit program (as defined in section 24 of title 18, United States Code); or ``(C) any State program for which payments are made to providers for services, appliances, or supplies similar to such services, appliances, or supplies provided pursuant to this subchapter. ``(2) The Secretary shall promulgate regulations to carry out this subsection.''. (b) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this Act shall apply with respect to payments made to a provider of services, appliances, or supplies on or after the date that is 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act.

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Walberg) and the gentleman from California (Mr. Takano) each will control 20 minutes. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Michigan.

General Leave

Mr. WALBERG. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material on H.R. 8823. The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from Michigan? There was no objection. Mr. WALBERG. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 8823, bipartisan legislation that protects both taxpayers and the Federal employees who rely on the Federal Employees' Compensation Act, when they are injured on the job. Federal workers who are navigating an injury deserve timely, honest, and compassionate care, not to become the target of fraud. Programs like FECA exist to ensure these workers receive the medical treatment and support they need to recover. Unfortunately, some bad actors have exploited that trust. Instead of following through on the responsibility to care for injured workers, certain medical providers have treated FECA like a personal ATM: submitting fraudulent claims, abusing the system, and enriching themselves at the expense of both taxpayers and the very people they were entrusted to help. The Office of Inspector General recently testified before Congress that since 2015, it has opened more than 320 criminal investigations involving the FECA program. These investigations have resulted in the indictment and

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conviction of 322 individuals and more than $1.7 billion in recovered funds. This is unacceptable. Every fraudulent claim weakens the program that countless injured Federal employees depend on. Every act of deception undermines confidence in a system that exists to support workers during a difficult moment in their lives. H.R. 8823 delivers a straightforward, commonsense solution. It codifies existing Department of Labor policy to prevent medical providers who are convicted of defrauding FECA from continuing to receive taxpayer-funded payments through the program. If someone has been found guilty of exploiting injured workers and stealing public funds, they should not continue to profit from the very program they abused. This legislation sends a clear message, Mr. Speaker: If you cheat taxpayers, exploit injured workers, and abuse the public trust, there will be consequences. Fraud should have no place in our workers' compensation system. Ambulance-chasing schemes and dishonest providers have taken advantage of this program for far too long. Today, we have the opportunity to put an end to that abuse and reaffirm that these funds are meant to serve injured workers, not line the pockets of fraudsters. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 8823 and tell these scammers that their payday is over. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time. Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 8823, Putting Patients First by Strengthening Provider Accountability in FECA Act. Providers are the greatest source of fraud in the Federal Employees' Compensation Act program, otherwise known as FECA. For example, during this committee's oversight of the opioid crisis, we learned about corrupt compounding pharmacies that were crushing up pills and putting them into creams, even though the medicines in those pills were not absorbed through the skin. A 15-ounce tube of this useless cream got charged to the FECA program for $15,000. Existing rules allow the Department of Labor to strike a provider from the list of eligible providers in the FECA program when they are convicted of fraud in any public health program. Those rules do not enable the Department to stop payment on any claims that a convicted provider has already submitted prior to the conviction. That could amount to millions of dollars in claims with a high risk of fraud moving through the system. There are, of course, due process issues that could arise, but this bill already contemplates those issues by empowering the Department of Labor to develop appropriate rules for implementing the new authority. All in all, this bill closes an important gap and protects taxpayers. Mr. Speaker, I am grateful to my colleagues Representatives Omar and Mackenzie on this issue. I urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time. Mr. WALBERG. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Mackenzie), the chairman of the Subcommittee on Workforce Protections and the author of this legislation. Mr. MACKENZIE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 8823, the Putting Patients First By Strengthening Provider Accountability in FECA Act, which I am leading alongside my colleague, Representative Omar. H.R. 8823 amends the FECA program, or the Federal Employees Compensation Act, to codify the Department of Labor's ability to suspend payments to medical care providers who have been convicted of fraud with respect to this program. Each year, the FECA program provides benefits to hundreds of thousands of injured Federal workers. This is their system, and they deserve for it to operate efficiently, reliably, and effectively. That requires us to establish commonsense protections against bad actors who would abuse FECA and rip off the Federal workers in the process. Throughout this year, we have heard numerous concerning reports of providers targeting Federal programs with fraudulent schemes, and FECA is no exception.

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