Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr announced Tuesday that the office’s Medicaid Fraud Division obtained civil recoveries totaling more than $68 million since November 2016.
The attorney general’s office also notes that over the same time period, the Medicaid Fraud Division has prosecuted more than 60 people for Medicaid fraud and the abuse, neglect, and exploitation of older adults, resulting in $17 million in restitution orders in criminal matters.
According to the attorney general’s Medicaid Fraud Division, the department has three principal responsibilities: to investigate criminal fraud committed upon Georgia’s Medicaid program, to investigate the abuse and neglect of patients in health-care facilities funded by the Medicaid program, and to enforce Georgia’s False Medicaid Claims Act in both state and federal court.
“Our Medicaid Fraud Division works hard each day to preserve the integrity of our Medicaid program and to protect taxpayer dollars no matter the amount,” Carr said in a statement. “This includes pursuing instances of fraud, abuse or exploitation committed by health-care providers or those responsible for the care of elder or at-risk Georgians. This type of illegal and deceptive behavior is unacceptable and will not be tolerated, and we will continue to use all tools at our disposal to ensure those who engage in these practices are held accountable for their actions.”
Under Carr’s leadership, the Medicaid Fraud Division has “emphasized investigations involving the abuse, neglect and exploitation of Georgia’s older and at-risk adults, schemes involving opioid overprescribing and dispensing, and scams targeting Medicaid beneficiaries,” the attorney general’s office notes.
“I commend the critically important work of Attorney General Chris Carr and the Medicaid Fraud Division,” Georgia Governor Brian Kemp said in a released statement. “Their dedicated efforts hold bad actors who take advantage of government resources accountable while protecting our most vulnerable and safeguarding hardworking Georgians’ taxpayer dollars.”
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Georgia Star News and The Star News Network.
Photo “Chris Carr” by Chris Carr. Background Photo “Georgia Capitol” by Autiger. CC BY-SA 2.0.
