What is the purpose of the Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team?

One major problem that has arisen recently is the misuse/abuse of healthcare resources through fraud. Often, this occurs through inappropriate billing or overestimating costs to increase reimbursement. It is important to realize that this is not identity fraud or inappropriate use of protected health information. To help regulate and reduce the incidence of this, The Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team (HEAT), a joint initiative between Health and Human Services,(HHS), Office of Inspector General (OIG), and the Department of Justice (DOJ), has been put in place to mitigate the potential for healthcare fraud.