Senior Medicare Patrol (SMP) Project

What is the SMP?

Senior Medicare Patrol (SMP) projects, available in all 50 states, help Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries avoid, detect, and prevent health care fraud. They both protect beneficiaries and help preserve the intregrity of the Medicare and Medicaid programs by recovering and avoiding the billions of dollars typically lost to health care fraud each year. As face-to-face, in-person contact is most effective, SMPs nationwide recruit and teach nearly 5,000 volunteers every year to help in this effort. Most SMP volunteers are both retired and have Medicare, and are thus well-positioned to assist their peers.

SMP staff and their volunteers outreach to Medicare beneficiaries in their communities through:

• hosting group presentations,
• exhibiting at community events,
• answering calls to the SMP helplines, and
• providing one-on-one counseling.

They teach Medicare beneficiaries how to protect their personal identity, identify and report errors on their health care bills and identify deceptive health care practices, such as illegal marketing, providing unnecessary or inappropriate services and charging for services that were never provided.

Who runs California’s SMP project?

California Health Advocates runs California’s SMP project through a grant from the U.S. Administration on Aging. We train and work closely with the network of volunteer counselors through California’s Health Insurance Counseling and Advocacy Program (HICAP). HICAP’s volunteer counselors provide SMP education and counseling on Medicare fraud and abuse.

Our main SMP office and staff contacts are listed below:

How are the SMP projects funded?

SMPs are funded by the Administration on Aging (AoA). SMP activities support AoA’s goals of promoting increased choice and greater independence among older adults. Find the SMP in your state.

In 1995, the AoA became a partner in a government-led effort to fight fraud, error and abuse in the Medicare and Medicaid programs through the implementation of a ground-breaking demonstration project called Operation Restore Trust (ORT). During its demonstration phase, ORT returned $23 for every $1 spent, looking at the fastest growing areas of Medicare fraud, including home health care, skilled nursing facilities and providers of durable medical equipment. Our SMP in California is one of the original demonstration programs and continues to be a prominent piece in the fight against fraud.

Related links:

• Senior Medicare Patrol - Empowering Seniors to Prevent Healthcare Fraud (PDF) Provides tips to help you understand and prevent Medicare fraud, where to go for help, and contact information.
• News articles on Medicare fraud

• Resources on Medicare fraud (English and Spanish)