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University of South Carolina

Pennysampling: Synopses, Applications, and Extensions

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

<p> Medicare and Medicaid fraud has taken center stage over the last decade due to the sheer magnitude (in expenditures and enrollment) of the programs. Even a small percentage of fraud in terms of total annual expenditures within Medicare or Medicaid can constitute billions of dollars as an expense that is passed on to the taxpayers of the United States. This paper examines methods of quantifying this fraud by using statistical techniques that are consistent with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services guidelines (CMS, 2005). Our interest is in the total overpayment amount of a population of payments made to a given healthcare provider, denoted &tau<sub>Y</sub>, and specifically and in accordance with CMS guidelines, a 90% lower bound for &tau<sub>Y</sub>. The paper considers classical methods of estimation in which the Central Limit Theorem is used, and also newer methods based on the Hypergeometric distribution. It studies the efficiency of "pennysampling" (Edwards et al., submitted) wherein the sampling unit is the penny. It also extends the idea of pennysampling to dollar sampling and allows for different sampling units (beneficiary IDs, claims, and claim lines) to be considered. </p>

Degree

thesis:*
Name thesis:degree_name
M.S.
Level thesis:degree_level
Campus Access Thesis
Discipline thesis:degree_discipline
Statistics
Year dc:date.available
2011

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Lawrence, Matthew
Contributors dc:contributor
  • Don Edwards

Subjects

dc:subject × 3

Rights

dc:rights
Statement dc:rights
  • © 2011, Matthew Lawrence

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
Repository record dc:identifier
https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/etd/2677
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:scholarcommons.sc.edu:etd-3671

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
University of South Carolina
Base URL
scholarcommons.sc.edu/do/oai/
Last updated
2026-07-24
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
citation

Lawrence, Matthew. Pennysampling: Synopses, Applications, and Extensions. Campus Access Thesis thesis, 2011. https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/etd/2677