West Virginia Attorney General, Patrick Morrisey, asked the Senate Finance Committee to transfer the Medicaid Fraud Unit from the Department of Health and Human Resources to the Attorney General’s Office.
The Attorney General said that his office has been able to save $13 million in savings through Social Security Benefit Fraud Reduction since 2015 and would be able to have a positive impact on preventing fraud through Medicaid.
“Anywhere from .6 to.12 cents from every Medicaid dollar gets lost,” Morrisey said. “We think our expertise going after fraud would be beneficial in the Medicaid fraud arena.”
Currently 43 states in the nation have a Medicaid fraud unit as a part of their Attorney General’s Office while the DHHR office is currently in charge of leading enforcements in West Virginia. If transferred, Morrisey said that he would like for his office to start off by taking on civil enforcements related to Medicaid fraud.
“The state has never really been at the top of its game,” Morrisey said. “I think there’s more that we could do in terms of the types of work that would allow for Medicaid dollars to go back to the state.”
Morrisey said that in the past, the DHHR has been opposed to this transfer of power but his office would be more than happy to welcome DHHR employees if the transfer is made.
“We’ve always tried to take the approach of having the best and the brightest,” Morrisey said. “If (the DHHR) has people who are engaged and doing good work then certainly we want to do everything imaginable to keep those people in place.”
Committee Chair, Craig Blair, also motioned to send Senate Bills 184, 185, 187, 188 and 189 to the full Senate but first be under double committee reference and referred to the committee on the Judiciary.
Senate Bill 186, which relates to State Tax Department rules, adds a new rule that authorizes that the tax commissioner relate the exchange of information for facilitating premium tax collections or enforcing tax collections. The bill was sent to the full Senate but first must be under double committee reference and referred to the committee on the Judiciary.
