New York Medicaid fraud collections, convictions hit record high

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's Medicaid fraud office recovered a record $283 million and obtained 148 criminal convictions in 2009, according to a report released yesterday.

Over the past three years, the unit has recovered nearly $660 million in taxpayer funds, including hundreds of convictions and millions in restitution, the report said. However, 2005 remains the year to beat for restitutions collected, at $345 million. The report comes as New York, like much of the country, attempts to slow the fiscal bleeding by recovering stolen funds.

Some of the more egregious schemes the New York team has conquered include a home-health scam in which owners sold phony certificates that resulted in illegal Medicaid billing in the millions of dollars; several major pharmaceutical companies participating in kickbacks, misreporting prices, marketing drugs for uses not approved by the federal government and other fraud; a doctor selling prescriptions on the street and more.

To learn more:
- check out this article in the Ithaca Journal
- read this press release from Cuomo's office
- here's the full report