Rep. Matt Norris<\/a> (DFL-Blaine), the bill sponsor. \u201cIt also steals money that is meant to provide health care to low-income Minnesotans. That’s disgraceful, and we’re here today to crack down on this kind of fraud.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe bill would expand the attorney general\u2019s subpoena powers for potential Medicaid fraud when there is an ongoing law enforcement investigation. It would also increase the penalties for Medical Assistance fraud and appropriate money to match federal funds to expand the department\u2019s Medicaid fraud investigative unit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis bill is designed to scrutinize and make sure that we have program integrity on the largest source of funds that the Department of Human Services provides to Minnesota,\u201d Norris said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Medicaid Fraud Control Unit has been around 40 years. For the past five years, the unit has spent about $5 million in state funds while recovering $53 million in restitution from fraudsters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOur investigators and prosecutors are good at what they do,\u201d said Nicholas Wanka, the unit director.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The proposed appropriation of $390,750 each year would be used to expand the office from 32 to 41 members by adding a prosecutor, seven more investigators, and support staff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That appropriation would cover 25% of that cost while a federal grant would cover the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWith those people and the additional tools we get, we’ll be better able to continue our mission to hold fraudsters and abusers accountable for their crimes,\u201d Wanka said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Norris agrees. \u201cWhen you look at what this unit has been able to recover in terms of fines and restitution (and) you combine that with the fact that the federal government will be matching the small state appropriation, I think this is a real winner.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The bill would establish felony penalties for Medical Assistance fraud of up to 20 years in prison and a $100,000 fine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Representing the Community Provider Alliance, Musab Khalif generally expressed overall support for the bill but has \u201ccritical concerns\u201d about the right to due process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe feel it needs to be modified with more precise and unambiguous language. Without having clear and precise language, as the Supreme Court of our state has said, then it’s kind of going to be a free for all. Laws are going to subjectively be applied as opposed to objectively applied.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Medicaid Fraud Control Unit in the attorney general\u2019s office has been one of the most successful units in the country. A 2022 audit by the Federal Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General showed that unit had more fraud convictions than other similarly sized Medicaid fraud units. HF2354 would expand that unit while also […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3847,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1696,29,1697],"class_list":["post-2682","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-federal-department-of-health-and-human-services","tag-minnesota","tag-rep-matt-norris","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Insight-News-Website-Images-2.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2682","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2682"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2682\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2683,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2682\/revisions\/2683"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3847"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}