The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has announced a new collaboration with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) aimed at addressing duplicate billing issues. The partnership, revealed on July 22, 2025, seeks to prevent situations where both agencies are billed for the same healthcare services.
In their review of medical billings over the past six years for veterans enrolled in both VA healthcare and Medicare, VA and CMS discovered $106 million had been improperly spent due to duplicate billings. This month, they will begin sending bills to providers who were overpaid to recover these funds.
Currently, about 5.9 million veterans are enrolled in both VA healthcare and Medicare. Both agencies provide payments for various medical services from third-party providers but lacked a system to prevent double billing until now.
To tackle this issue, VA and CMS have established a data-matching agreement designed to identify medical providers submitting claims to both agencies. This initiative aims to eliminate overpayments and future double billing occurrences.
"We are proud to implement this commonsense reform," said VA Secretary Doug Collins. "The money we save as a result of this effort will be much better spent helping VA and Medicare beneficiaries get the benefits they've earned."
CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz stated, "For too long, government programs have operated in silos, enabling improper payments to slip through the cracks at the expense of taxpayers." He added that under President Trump's leadership, CMS is partnering with the VA "to root out duplicate billing" and ensure American veterans and seniors receive deserved care.
