The billions of dollars that Medicare has spent on recalled or defective medical devices are a “significant cause for concern,” yet the government lacks a reliable way to track such spending a decade after it emerged as a sore point, auditors concluded this week.
The U.S. Health and Human Services inspector general’s office issued a report Monday concluding that Medicare claim forms lack information that would let the government track expenses including $1.5 billion spent on thousands of surgeries for heart devices that were recalled or failed earlier than expected.
