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Press Release Published: May 6, 2014

Issa Statement on IG Report Finding $60.8 Million Falsely Claimed by NY Medicaid Program

WASHINGTON – House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., released the following statement on today’s inspector general report that found the New York State Department of Health claimed $60.8 million in fraudulent Medicaid reimbursements:

“The report issued today is only the latest example of the systemic waste and abuse of federal taxpayer dollars that has become a hallmark of the New York State Medicaid program. As this report shows, New York State’s current leadership has not effectively addressed the long-standing problems in its program. The Committee will continue to press the federal government to recoup the $60.8 million identified by this audit, and as much as possible of the billions of dollars in overpayments received by the State over the last two decades.”

The audit, conducted by the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General, was requested by the Oversight Committee and is the second such audit of State-operated facilities that provide residential habilitation services. In March 2014, the IG found these facilities received $666 million in overpayments just between 2010 and 2011, due to a long-standing problem with the payment methodology that drastically inflated payment rates. The latest report, released today, examined room-and-board costs at those facilities. Auditors found the facilities claimed an additional $60.8 million in illegal room-and-board Medicaid reimbursements and hid those overpayments from the HHS IG. The report recommends CMS reclaim the full amount.

In March 2013, the Committee released a bipartisan report titled “Billions of Federal Tax Dollars Misspent on New York’s Medicaid Program” which found New York State had claimed $15 billion in overpayments from 1991-2011.