The state House passed Attorney General Bob Ferguson’s request to reauthorize the Medicaid Fraud False Claims Act Friday.
The vote was 88 to 8, and the Senate version of the reauthorization bill is expected to pass soon too.
The House bill sponsor is Rep. Laurie Jinkins, D-Tacoma.
“This bill will ensure that patients are getting the care they need and that the government investments in patient care are being used effectively and efficiently,” Jinkins state in a news release.
Sen. Ann Rivers, R-La Center, sponsor of the Senate bill, said the legislation is common sense.
According to a press release, the act, which allows the Attorney General to bring civil cases against fraudulent providers, is one of the state’s most effective tools to combat Medicaid fraud.
“The Medicaid False Claims Act has brought enormous benefit to our state by giving my office a powerful tool to hold fraudsters accountable,” Ferguson is quoted in the release.
The Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit investigated Centralia Middle School and found that it made false claims between March 2011 and June 2013. The school district had to pay $372,000 to the state’s Health Care Authority as part of a settlement agreement.
A December 2015 review of the act found that it has been highly effective in the last three years, increasing fraud recoveries 28 percent, recovering $6.1 million or recovering $3 for every $1 invested in enforcement.
Without the act, the Attorney General’s Office would only be able to criminally prosecute fraud cases.
Without Legislative approval, the act will expire on June 30, 2016, the state would lose its partnership with the National Medicaid Fraud Control Unit and whistleblower protections under the act would also disappear.
