Recorded December 1, 2020
Tom Hughes, CPA, MBA, Vice President, Internal Audit at Global Medical Response
Introduction by AAA President-Elect Randy Strozyk

News reports of fraud occur far too often across all industries. While you may think it’s a big company issue, it affects small companies too. How did these fraud cases start and why weren’t these detected before the impact was so large?

Most EMS agencies prevent and detect false claim submissions and expertly managed controlled substances. However, losses from fraudulent behavior can occur by many other means. From small to large, fraud schemes have common characteristics that can be detected—if you know what to look for.

Tom Hughes
Vice President, Head of Internal Audit
Global Medical Response

Tom is a seasoned auditor and leads the Internal Audit department of GMR. Throughout his career at large accounting firms, government entities and corporations, he has investigated fraud cases ranging from $240 million financial reporting fraud to a PTO scheme. Based on the characteristics of the case, Tom has worked with Federal and Local law enforcement agencies to investigate and insurance agencies to recoup losses.

While fraud investigations are interesting, Tom and his department work with their internal clients to establish an internal control environment that prevents or detect errors or fraud without creating excessive administrative burden.