September 24, 2012 – Toronto, Ontario, Canada � Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) has been declared the winner of the Canadian Health Care Anti-fraud Association’s 2012 Dr. Edward Mazak Advancement in Public Awareness Award. The award is presented annually to individuals and organizations that have made an outstanding contribution to raising public awareness of health care fraud through efforts such as the development and implementation of a fraud awareness program, or distributing anti-fraud information in a public forum. Dr. Mazak was a practising dentist as well as a Dental Consultant for a private insurer. His years of service to the dental profession and the insurance industry gave him a unique insight into the abuse of health care benefits and its overall effect on health care costs.
“IBC is one of the best organizations actively promoting anti-fraud efforts. Over the past couple of years they have spent much time and resources, particularly in investigating staged auto collisions, an issue that has impacted upon the dollars spent in the health care system, due to fraudulent health insurance claims. With every arrest, they have been going to the press, and some of the stories emanating from these reports also highlight clinics and their involvement in fraud scams,” said Joel Alleyne, Executive Director of the CHCAA.
Richard Dubin, IBC’s Vice President of Investigative Services, accepted the Mazak Award on September 21st, at the CHCAA’s Annual Conference at the Niagara Falls Crowne Plaza Hotel, in Niagara Falls, ON. “We are thrilled and honoured to be recognized with this award. We have a commitment at IBC to fight fraud on all fronts. Insurance fraudsters are very creative and often highly organized. They will take advantage of unsuspecting consumers and insurers that act in good faith. Our message is that your best defence is a good offence�and being informed about fraud is a great defence.”
IBC’s social media site http://getintheknow.ibc.ca/ has fraud-related content front and centre. The site provides a wealth of resources to help Canadians understand the issue and most importantly, recognize the red flags associated with scammers. IBC’s Twitter Feed @InsuranceBureau provides frequent updates with key links to fraud-related content and generates discussion on the issue and how it impacts everyday Canadians.
The CHCAA (www.chcaa.org) was founded in 2000 to give a voice to the public and private sector health care organizations interested in preventing fraud in the Canadian health care environment. The CHCAA leads the fight against health care fraud and represents Canada in the Global Health Care Anti-Fraud Network (www.ghcan.org). Follow CHCAA’s Twitter feeds @JOEL_CHCAA for a bird’s eye view of health care related fraud news.
About Insurance Bureau of Canada
Insurance Bureau of Canada is the national industry association representing Canada’s private home, car and business insurers. Its member companies represent 90% of the property and casualty (P&C) insurance market in Canada. The P&C insurance industry employs over 114,000 Canadians, pays more than $7 billion in taxes to the federal, provincial and municipal governments, and has a total premium base of $40 billion. To view media releases and information, visit the media section of IBC’s website at www.ibc.ca and for IBC on Twitter follow @insurancebureau.
