A Disciplined Approach to Fraud Prevention

The challenge of preventing fraud is daunting to many government agencies. While progress has been made, there is more work to be done. Billions of dollars are still lost to fraud and improper payments every year. Moreover, the face of fraud is constantly changing - from new money-laundering schemes to contractor fraud to disaster relief schemes associated with Katrina-Rita to fraudulent Worker's Compensation and Medicare/Medicaid claims.

Additionally, the obstacles to preventing fraud vary. For many agencies, databases do not contain enough information needed to effectively track contractors, grant recipients or service providers. Another problem is resources. Some agencies focus resources on investigating and recovering misspent funds as opposed to implementing proactive measures to prevent fraud. The GAO reported, for example, that states typically devote one-fourth of one percent or less of their Medicaid and Medicare program expenditures on preventing and detecting improper payments. In addition, the courts sometimes require agencies to continue making improper payments. One solution lies in commercial best practices, which inspire a powerful conceptual framework - the five Cs of fraud prevention - that government can use to prevent fraud. This approach provides agencies with a framework for screening businesses and individuals applying for government contracts, grants, disaster relief, medical benefits and other funds. Even a 10 percent improvement in fraud prevention would likely save $4 billion or more.

The Five Cs of Fraud Prevention Confirmation: Does the person or entity truly exist? Condition: Is the business and/or its executives active? Consistency: Are stated facts consistent with other sources of information? Character: Are there any past issues that could impose risks on the current or a future transaction? Continuity: Has the current operational status changed and is it posing new risks?

D&B can help agencies detect risk and prevent fraud through corroboration and verification with third party information. Typically, there isn't one "red flag" that alerts analysts to potential risk; rather, it's a pattern or accumulation of "red flags," none of which is significant on its own, but taken together create a picture of risk. For example, some red flags include no information on a business or questionable documentary evidence.

"There are powerful new tools that can be used to prevent fraud, especially identity authentication at the point of enrollment," says Tom Marsden, Business Development, D&B.

Learn more in D&B's Fraud Prevention whitepaper or contact us directly.

D&B keeping pace with business change... so you don't have to!

The rapid pace of business change in any month is staggering. Take just one look at the activity D&B recorded in the U.S. during the month of October. 43,507 new businesses opened. 289,390 CEOs changed or added. 15,327 addresses changed. Now, multiply the change impact by twelve months. Then consider: What is the impact of business change on import safety? On your supply chain? On Medicaid/Medicare programs? What is the impact on decision making if your agency systems have not been updated in the last month, last 6 months or year?

D&B's DUNSRight continuous process of updating our database 1.5 million times a day helps to ensure the accuracy, completeness, and timeliness of information so you can make the best decisions based on the best information available. Contact us for more information.

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D&B acquires First Research and Purisma to expand industry coverage and improve data integration capabilities

D&B recently announced two strategic acquisitions - First Research, the leading Internet provider of editorial-based industry insight and Purisma, a leading provider of customer data integration (CDI) software solutions. These acquisitions will provide agencies with deeper industry-specific content as well as seamless integration of D&B data with an agency's internal systems.

First Research provides comprehensive information on over 220 industries. First Research has a formula of "doing the heavy lifting" by synthesizing industry information from hundreds of sources into easy to digest, editorial-based insight. With First Research, agencies will be able to:

• Understand key trends within industries
• Get higher quality data and more comprehensive insight on industries
• Access rich industry overviews and state government profiles

Purisma provides solutions-driven technology to build out our CDI capabilities. Specifically, Purisma offers a data hub and CDI software appliance, which are built to leverage the D&B database, simplify the integration of D&B data with an agency's internal systems and embed D&B solutions behind the agency firewall. With Purisma, agencies will be able to:

• Quickly and efficiently implement a CDI solution with less costs and risks that can be associated with larger scale CDI infrastructure
• Create a single, complete and consistent view of entities
• Seamlessly integrate D&B insight with their own information

Contact us for more information.

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New self-guided training helps you get the most from your D&B subscription.

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