BILL NUMBER:S773

TITLE OF BILL:
An act
to amend the public health law, in relation to authorizing any
prosecutor of competent jurisdiction to receive referrals from certain
agencies

PURPOSE:
To amend the Public Health Law, in relation to authorizing any
prosecutor of competent jurisdiction to receive referrals from
certain agencies.

SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1. Amends Subdivision 7 of section 32 of the public health law
to allow for Office of Medicaid Inspector General to refer suspected
fraud or criminality to any prosecutor of competent jurisdiction.

Section 2. Effective date.

JUSTIFICATION:
Approximately two years ago the Office of the Medicaid Inspector
General (OMIG) entered into a memorandum of understanding with the
Nassau County Department of Social Service (DSS) which allowed DSS to
investigate Medicaid provider fraud and keep the county share of any
recovery in exchange for working under the supervision and control of
              

the OMIG. The Demonstration Project, as it is known, requires DSS to
seek the OMIG's approval before starting a Medicaid provider
investigation, requires OMIG's approval of the investigation plan,
and requires DSS to turn the entire investigation over to OMIG if any
fraud is found. Once the investigation is turned over, OMIG will
review DSS's efforts, conduct any further investigation that it deems
necessary and, if the OMIG is satisfied conduct exists, turn over the
file to the Attorney General's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU).
The MFCU that covers Nassau County is based in Hauppauge.

This Demonstration Project working in conjunction OMIG's statute, has
created a bureaucratitc chain whereby Nassau DSS is supervised by an
entity in Albany, sends its completed investigations to Albany, and
then the case travels to MFCU in Hauppauge. Meanwhile the Prosecutors
in the Nassau County District Attorney's office, sitting a mere three
miles away from the investigators at DSS, are prohibited from
offering their assistance. It is inexplicable that the county
district attorney is
barred from prosecuting crimes that take place within the county and
were investigated by a county agency.

This legislation would easily fix the problem referenced above by
amending the OMIG's statute to allow the agency to make referrals to
both the Attorney General and "any prosecutor of competent
jurisdiction.

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2011-2012: Passed the Senate (S.594/A.6405)
2009-2010: Referred to Health (S.4774/A.10047)


FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
Due to an increase in efficiency in prosecuting Medicaid Fraud, there
is an estimated increase in revenue to the state.

EFFECTIVE DATE:
Immediately.