Orrin Hatch: “Thank you. My next concern relates to creation of the health care fraud and abuse data collection program. As you know…”

“Thank you. My next concern relates to creation of the health care fraud and abuse data collection program. As you know, some people are concerned about the very establishment at the Federal level of this new program. I understand those concerns, but I also am very sympathetic to my colleague's argument that this would be a strong weapon in our Federal arsenal to fight the fraud and abuse which are costing our health care system so many billions of dollars each year and robbing us of valuable resources which would be better used for patient care. The specific concern I want to raise now is that the program not duplicate existing data bases which already collect information about credentialing, licensing, and malpractice violations against providers. Is that the Senator's intent?”