The amount of improper Medicare payments made by the federal government fell $7 billion in federal fiscal year 2019, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services reports.

FY 2019 marked the third consecutive year that improper fee-for-service payments have fallen.  In FY 2018, improper payments accounted for 8.12 percent of Medicare fee-for-service spending but in FY 2019 that portion fell to 7.25 percent.  In FY 2019, CMS estimates that it made $28.9 billion in improper fee-for-service payments.

$5.32 billion of the $7 billion reduction came through corrective actions in Medicare home health payments.  Other Medicare Part B services accounted for $1.82 billion in savings and durable equipment improvements also accounted for significant savings.

Learn more about the decline in improper Medicare payments and the policy changes that contributed to it in this CMS news release, which also links to a CMS fact sheet and a full report.