NY Inspector General cracks down on Medicaid abuse

New York State Medicaid Inspector General wants increased penalties for doctors, pharmacists, nursing homes and others that bill the state for services to people who have died.

Crain's New York Business reports: "In a sweeping plan to further crack down on Medicaid fraud and billing improprieties, New York state Medicaid Inspector General James Sheehan announced a plan this week to increase the penalties for billing Medicaid for services for patients who have died. In addition to fining the parties responsible and making them pay back the money, Mr. Sheehan said, he will begin posting culprits' names on his office's Web site. Earlier this month, OMIG found that a Miller Place, Long Island pharmacy had billed Medicaid $28,000 for prescriptions for 17 deceased customers. Mr. Sheehan pointed out that some errors are intentional, while others are due to 'billing systems that run on autopilot'" (Scott, 8/19).

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This article was reprinted from khn.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.