NEW YORK, Jan. 14 (UPI) -- New York Gov. George Pataki said he will introduce a budget plan next week that will consolidate Medicaid fraud investigation into a new agency.
Pataki's announcement Friday comes after a report from a political ally and former prosecutor called for more workers in a new agency to combat waste, bad information and lack of documentation between the agencies.
The New York Times reports investigation of fraud in New York currently is mainly on the shoulders of the State Health Department and the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit.
Two Times investigations published in July found a billion dollar funnel of Medicaid money lost to fraud, government waste and poor company oversight.
The state has the largest Medicaid program in the country at $44.5 billion servicing 4.2 million poor workers.
Fraud recovery dollars dropped by 70 percent since 2000, with the Health Department referring 37 cases of suspected fraud in 2004.
Pataki's plan would call for $15 million to hire 81 new workers for the new agency, many of which would come from other investigation agencies being closed.
