License to Steal: How Fraud Bleeds America's Health Care System, Updated Edition

by Malcolm K. Sparrow

Book Overview

Who steals? An extraordinary range of folk -- from low-life hoods who sign on as Medicare or Medicaid providers equipped with nothing more than beepers and mailboxes, to drug trafficking... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0813330688
• ISBN13: 9780813330686
• Release Date: August 1996
• Publisher: Routledge
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.92 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.1" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

How white collar crime can come from the long white coats...

This is one of the best books ever written about the abuse of the Medicare program. Thorough and informative all the way through.

Must read for fraud investigators

This text is the best high level review of the national health care fraud issue out there. It gives the first time health care fraud professional the basics. It is somewhat dated in 2006, but nevertheless a very informative read on the subject.

The Book That Started It All

The first edition of License to Steal woke up the people in charge of healthcare payment in America. Sparrow brought attention to the scope and nature of the healthcare fraud problem. And the scope is huge--he estimates that hundreds of billions of dollars are lost to healthcare fraud each year.In the wake of Sparrow's book, Medicare, Medicaid, HMOs and insurers started to take fraud more seriously. Sparrow's 2000 edition of License to Steal includes information on fraud efforts since the first edition and how they are still falling far short of what is needed to limit fraud to an acceptable level. Spend the extra few dollars to get the updated hardcover edition.Robin Mathias, MPA, Fraud BulldogMathias Consultinghttp://www.....com

Finally, someone who "gets it"!!!

This is a remarkable book which opens the readers eyes to some of the "real" issues in the financial state of healthcare in the United States. It pulls together what the people in the trenches have struggled with for years ... and puts it into an easy to read text that you just CAN'T put down. This should be required text for anyone working in healthcare or anyone who receives care from the system.

Straight talk on fraud

Although he has a wealth of expertise and a scholar's background, Sparrow speaks in a narrative style about the sad state of health care fraud in America today. While some progress is being made, there remains a little depth and sophistication in the responses to the complex and clever fraud schemes out there. Regretably, the many policitcal and institutional barriers to mesuring and uncovering fraud continue to allow the system to be drained of precious dollars. While it takes a large investment to begin the fight on the level Sparrow advocates, the return is immeasurably greater. Not recommended for folks who don't need their blood pressure to rise.