DHS policy bill, anti-kickback measures discussed in committee

Fraud, waste and abuse are buzzwords around the Capitol this session.

Those words came up again in the House Human Services Finance and Policy Committee.

Sponsored by Rep. Joe Schomacker (R-Luverne), HF2115, as amended, is the Department of Human Services’ policy bill that includes provisions relating to aging and disability services, behavioral health, direct care and treatment, health care administration, and inspector general offices.

It was the Office of the Inspector General and the word kickback that caught the attention of the committee, which held the bill over for future consideration.

The bill would establish anti-kickback policies and criminal violations for Human Services programs, including Medical Assistance and child care assistance.

Ariana Didion, legislative director for the department’s Office of Inspector General, said the kickback provisions are in federal law and this would codify them into state statute.

“These would prohibit kickbacks in Medical Assistance and the child care assistance program,” Didion said. “Currently, kickbacks are illegal in federal Medicaid law and that would put that prohibition in state law and then it also adds a prohibition on kickbacks in the CCAP program. There is not a federal law to model this on but several other states have implemented a state level CCAP anti-kickback law and so we modeled this on what other states have done.”

By putting it into state law, Didion said they would be able to take administrative actions related to kickbacks including referring them for criminal prosecution.

“We would be able to take any administrative actions that we're already able to take related to fraud or misuse in CCAP related to those kickbacks,” Didion said. “We can't currently do that for kickbacks but other allegations of fraud, waste and abuse, so for example, like payment withholds or if there are other allegations of fraud, waste and abuse, anything else to referring that out for criminal prosecution.”

The bill would also expand clients’ rights under the Health Care Bill of Rights to include children's, residential substance use disorder treatment, non-residential substance use disorder treatment, and withdrawal management programs, which are not currently outlined while similar license types are.