Iowa Medicaid Fraud Task Force Urges Growing Prosecution Unit to 24 Staff

The task force Gov. Kim Reynolds created over the summer recommended expanding Iowa’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit from nine to 24 positions, in a report the governor released Thursday, the Iowa Capital Dispatch reported.

The added staff would cost about $3.3 million a year, with the federal government covering 75 percent and Iowa about $550,000, according to the report. It said Iowa’s Medicaid program has grown 129 percent since 2013 while the unit’s budget grew 31 percent. KTTC reported the unit oversees an $8.7 billion program.

The task force also proposed making Medicaid fraud a Class D felony, with a Class C felony above $10,000; letting unit investigators execute their own warrants and use investigative subpoenas; Medicaid-specific anti-kickback and civil penalty laws; and, KTTC reported, a Medicaid fraud “war room” modeled on a federal CMS approach. The Capital Dispatch said many recommendations would require legislation.

Kevin Techau, a former attorney who led the unit, told KTTC, “Why did it take so long?” and said the unit could have been helped without a task force. The Capital Dispatch reported that a group of former state officials has criticized the task force as politically motivated and argued the attorney general could have dedicated staff to the effort without it.