MORGANTOWN, WV — The WVU College of Law hosted the Mountaineers Healthcare Fraud Symposium Thursday in the Marilyn E. Lugar Courtroom.

The symposium brought together state and federal investigators who shared information about healthcare fraud, and medical and insurance experts discussed how to detect and prevent fraud.

The primary audience for Thursday’s symposium were attorneys from across West Virginia who practice health care litigation.

But organizers said they also want the public to know about healthcare fraud, avoid becoming a victim and know how to report healthcare fraud.

“I hope more people will bring fraud to our attention, because despite our activity, when it comes to prosecuting healthcare fraud cases, I know and my office knows there are there’s more we’re hearing about.” said William Ihlenfeld, United States Attorney, Northern District of West Virginia. “We want people to call us so we can be proactive about it and we can take action to address any fraud that occurs.”

They also explained how whistleblowers can report fraud and if a claim is pursued with a recovery, the whistleblower can receive a portion of it.

To report health care fraud, call the Mountaineer Health Care Strike Force at (304) 234-7711, or you can email the Mountaineer Health Care Strike Force at [email protected]

If you wish to write a letter and send correspondence to the United States Attorney’s Office, this address is: PO Box 151, Wheeling WV 26003.

You can also call the US Department of Health and Human Services to report health care fraud at 1-800-447-8477 or you can go to tips.hhs.gov