Uli Hoeneß steht im Verdacht, Steuern am deutschen Fiskus vorbei über die Schweiz hinterzogen zu haben. Politiker, Sportler und Medien stürzen sich auf ihn und zerlegen den Mythos des erfolgreichen Managers. Viele schwanken zwischen Enttäuschung über die Anschuldigen eines honorigen Prominenten, Schadenfreude, dass es auch einmal einen der Reichen erwischt
Sometimes, it is good to start with a confession. I filed my taxes at the last minute. It was past time to get some money back from the IRS before they could waste $60,000 on another Star Trek spoof video. Normally I'm one of those people that files in February,
How often do you question the availability of power? Outside of weather events, the answer is probably, “not much.” But what if you have an electric vehicle? Or manage a data center? Rely on either of those technologies and you might consider electricity as a constraint, around which you plan
Personally, I love studies. They help put things into context, and when done well, provide an independent and hopefully unbiased view of the forces that shape our lives. They are also a great way to see government funds used in strange ways. For example, the new NIOSH (National Institute for
SAS announced yesterday that Michigan will use the SAS Fraud Framework for Government to, initially, combat fraud, waste and abuse in the state’s unemployment insurance and food stamp programs. Those two programs are good focus areas and I’m confident they will lead to the state recovering funds, avoiding losses and
Die Menschen sagen immer, man könnt nichts lernen aus Hollywood-Filmen. Stimmt nicht! Im Kino läuft gerade „Gangster Squad“. Die Handlung: Ein stadtbekannter Verbrecher ist nicht mit den gängigen Methoden zu fangen. Daher rottet sich eine rabiatere Polizei-Truppe zusammen, um ihn zu bekämpfen. Das hört sich zwar spannend an, aber mein Lieblings-Film
Watching our nation approach the "fiscal cliff", and the dire predictions if we truly drive off it like the last scene in Thelma and Louise, has sharpened my view of the potential risks that huge gaps of fraud and abuse present to all of us. One of the key lessons
… and any fool will mind it”. ~ Henry David Thoreau. The EPA was in my neighborhood several weeks ago testing well water - never a good sign. It was determined that the subdivision just north and upstream of us had once been the site of a farm contaminated by
Independent contractor. Two very simple words that have a dramatic impact on businesses, workers, and government programs. While most people have a basic understanding of the term, they often have very little understanding of the laws governing it, which vary significantly program by program and state by state. This has
Several weeks ago, South Carolina was the victim of what some experts believe to be the largest cyber-attack against a state tax department in history. Approximately 3.6 million personal South Carolina income tax returns were exposed, and nearly 657,000 businesses compromised, in an international hacking attack. Coincidentally, SAS and the SC
Recently, top executives from SAS gathered in Washington, DC with customers and other interested parties to discuss the potential impact of "big data" and high-performance analytics on the U.S. government. Topics included cyber-attack strategies, health care, bio-surveillance, border security and of course, fraud and improper payments. On the heels of
Disasters like Hurricane Sandy, by and large, shine a positive light on humanity, with the heroic actions of first responders and volunteers, and the massive outpouring of support from across the nation. They also present fraud opportunities for the shady operators and criminals among us. Hurricanes leave behind a lot
The first step is to answer the question of what “real-time” actually means. Depending on the program and industry speed of response, I’ve heard answers that varied from milliseconds for the biggest banks in processing credit card charges to 24 hours for some government programs. A better description of what
Detecting and preventing fraud isn't easy. Many tools and techniques are required, and while the digital age and advanced technologies have made fraud much easier in many ways, those same technologies have opened up new ways to combat it. One of those comes in the form of social network analysis,
It has become more and more apparent, country by country and state by state, that many organizations do not have a clear grasp on what their exposure is to health care fraud. Whatever name it goes by – aberrant behavior, abuse, waste or fraud – and no matter how it is measured – in currency (dollars,
It is becoming clear that a fair percentage of the health care community, particularity outside of the United States, are uncomfortable using the word, “fraud.” Instead, you see the words "risk" and "error" used more often to describe fraud. There appear to be many different reasons for the discomfort with
We've all heard of her. A little blond girl with a penchant for trespassing, and very finicky preferences in mattresses and breakfast food. Unfortunately, Goldilocks isn't just part of a fairy tale, she is alive, well, and causing havoc throughout government. If you haven't made the connection yet, "bear" with
Fraud detection presents myriad analytical challenges: gathering sufficient known cases to make typical modeling techniques possible, gathering inputs from disparate data sources, and combining expert knowledge from investigators with findings to be gleaned from the data in an efficient way. Of course, analysts can fall into the trap of thinking
In most of the articles and press pieces that speak of health care fraud, the topic is usually covered in broad terms regarding the type or activity that has taken place: over-billing to Medicare/Medicaid, services billed and not delivered, over subscription of medication (by members or Pharmacies), and the list
Managing the deluge of smart grid data. Responding to the increased demand for customer intelligence. Implementing analytics for grid optimization. These were just a few of the topics covered at this week’s inaugural “Utility Analytics Summit.” Utilities have been grappling with implementation of smart grid devices for several years and
After all the Christmas parties and new year dinners are over, many would like to forget embarrassing behavior or over-indulgences of the season. By way of putting all that behind, it’s not uncommon for most to start the year by embracing a sober regime, diet and even a few New
2011 saw incredible change in the states as more than half of the governorships changed hands. As expected, that caused significant turnover at the State CIO level, as well. So while executive and technology policies changed in many ways, the dismal budget situation reinforced the need to allocate tax pay
If you are feeling out of sorts, a bit down and out, and want to take it all the way to full-blown depression, have I got a book recommendation for you: “Normal Accidents”, by Charles Perrow (1984). Perrow’s premise is that we have designed certain systems, nuclear reactors being his primary
Recently I had the privilege to attend two customer events hosted at SAS’ new Executive Briefing Center. The first was a two-day SAS anti-money laundering (AML) customer connections workgroup which was then followed by the 7th Annual Terrorism Financing and Money Laundering Forum. Some of you may be thinking, “Isn’t anti-money
One of the hottest topics on today's agenda for financial institutions is FFIEC's recently released guidance supplement calling for layered fraud secuity and authentication. So, during the recent Terrorism Financing and Money Laundering Forum in Cary, North Carolina, a panel discussion on fraud was developed to discuss emerging trends in fraud -
New for this year's Annual Terrorism Financing and Money Laundering Forum, the afternoon sessions were divided into two tracks, anti-money laundering (AML) and fraud, each featuring a topical presentation and a panel discussion. During the AML panel discussion on emerging trends, representatives from several US law enforcement agencies and the
Sunday marked 10 years since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks forever changed our focus on threats to US security. Last week, SAS hosted the 7th annual Terrorism Financing and Money Laundering Forum, a day of information sharing among the key players from both the public and private sectors in the
Most health care organizations either intentionally or due to some inability don’t use outside information (not just referals) in their search for fraud. There are great numbers of valid reasons for this: HIPAA, security, usable/current data sources, inflexible information systems or processes, restrictive compliance & IT departments, and the list
Due to the rapid changes in both the health care market and more specifically the amount of fraud being committed in it, it is even more important than ever to maintain some degree of life cycle management to update the analyses used to detect and identify aberrant activity. However, many
In the health care field, the impact of fraud, waste and abuse on payers -- whether insurance companies, government agencies or self-insured employers -- is enormous. Fraud losses weaken a payer’s financial position, with fraud loss estimates rivaling net income. Fraud losses feed the escalating care cost curve, undermining a
