Justice Department to Help Fund Business Researchers’ Effort to Predict Physician Fraud

An $800,000 federal grant will support research by experts at the Robert H. Smith School of Business to determine if data science can predict and detect physician fraud.

The National Institute of Justice—the research, development and evaluation agency of the U.S. Department of Justice—awarded the funding to the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences and the Smith School’s Center for Health Information & Decision Systems and Center for the Study of Business Ethics, Regulation & Crime.

The researchers will explore whether models using big data on non-clinical activities such as illegal behavior, consumer complaints and malpractice, conspicuous spending and other life stressors can successfully predict whether a physician will engage in fraud in the next year or two. They will also explore which behavioral factors predict the greatest risk for fraud, and compare machine-learning algorithms’ accuracy in foreseeing scams.