OLA report urges Minnesota DHS to strengthen Medicaid fraud safeguards

A state assessment released Thursday recommended tightening fraud safeguards across 14 “high-risk” Minnesota human services programs.

The report, published by the Office of the Legislative Auditor (OLA), summarizes a vulnerability assessment by Optum State Government Solutions, originally submitted in January to the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) and Minnesota IT Services (MNIT). Optum identified potential vulnerabilities to fraud, waste and abuse in Medicaid-funded programs.

According to the report, DHS provided the agency with an unredacted copy of the assessment in February after publicly releasing a heavily redacted version. In March, a lawmaker requested a summary of the report’s findings.

In the report, OLA noted it did not independently verify Optu...