The Arkansas Senior Medicare Patrol (AR SMP) is warning Arkansans on Medicare to be cautious of scammers who claim to offer “free” or “at no cost to you” screens for cancer, dementia, drug sensitivity, cardiovascular disease, and more.
In recent years, the media buzz around DNA tests has spawned a wide variety of these genetic testing scams.
“It seems like every day there is a new medical breakthrough to reduce mortality and prolong quality of life – new vaccines, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, or clinical laboratory tests, and screening procedures,” said Kathleen Pursell, AR SMP Program Director. “Unfortunately, many of the most exciting health care innovations are also the ones of greatest interest to unscrupulous con artists and scammers who target vulnerable seniors to fraudulently bill Medicare for medically unnecessary services or obtain sufficient personal information to steal the victim’s medical identity.”
Genetic testing fraud occurs when Medicare is billed for a test or screening that was not medically necessary and/or was not ordered by a Medicare beneficiary’s treating physician. Medicare strictly limits coverage for genetic screening tests, although it does cover many genetic tests that meet the criteria for diagnostic tests such as those used to treat cancer and other medical conditions. Nevertheless, the…
