Gov. Tim Walz announced today,
Governor Walz Orders Third-Party Audit of Medicaid Billing at DHS:
Governor orders pause on all payments for 14 DHS Medicaid services until audit is complete.
The pause is to last for 90 days. I’m only half joking when I saw that the move will wipe out the metro’s luxury car dealerships.
Details,
Using funding passed during the 2025 legislative session, the Department of Human Services (DHS) has contracted with Optum, which will analyze Medicaid fee-for-service claims data and flag potential issues for DHS review.
Why now? Other than the fact that Gov. Walz is running for a third term in office in 2026. The fraud scandal predates his first election in 2018. Third-party auditing could have been implemented at any point in the past seven years. Or the past 15 years, for that matter.
A quote from the Gov.,
If you attempt to defraud our public programs and steal taxpayer dollars out from under the people who need them most – you will be stopped, and you will be held accountable.
Since when? Starting today? Before today, we’ve seen that DHS and other state agencies have not bothered with even the most elementary forms of vetting: such as checking to see if the applying vendor company exists, the applying individual exists, or the listed address exists. Criminal background checks are not conducted, even for high-ranking bureaucrats within the state administration.
Here are the 14 programs that DHS has flagged for further review:
- Early Intensive Developmental and Behavioral Intervention (EIDBI) services for autism
- Integrated Community Supports
- Nonemergency Medical Transportation
- Peer Recovery Services
- Adult Rehabilitative Mental Health Services
- Adult Day Services
- Personal Care Assistance/Community First Services and Supports
- Recuperative Care
- Individualized Home Supports
- Adult Companion Services
- Night Supervision
- Assertive Community Treatment
- Intensive Residential Treatment Services
- Housing Stabilization Services
You will recognize many of these programs from our past reporting on fraud.
The Star Tribune reports that the one-year contract with Optum will cost the state $2.3 million.
This was inevitable, from the Star Tribune,
The Association of Residential Resources in Minnesota, which represents more than 200 disability services providers in the state, expressed concern Wednesday that the broad payment pause could negatively affect people with disabilities.
Developing…
