(Senator Rasmusson’s Office)
St. Paul, MN – Senator Jordan Rasmusson of Fergus Falls is calling for bipartisan support in reviewing the Optum Vulnerability Assessment of the Minnesota Department of Human Services after the nonpartisan Office of the Legislative Auditor (OLA) released a special review of the heavily redacted report last week.
The original Optum analysis identified more than $52 million in improper Medicaid payments over four years across 14 programs and flagged more than $1 billion for further review.
A law passed earlier this year allows the Legislature to obtain the full report if both the chair and ranking member of the House or Senate Human Services Committee request it. The OLA review includes a Department of Human Services response stating that such a request has not been made.
Senator Rasmusson said in a statement that the OLA review brings more clarity to vulnerabilities and failings at the Department of Human Services that enabled systemic fraud to occur. “I have been advocating for allowing lawmakers and the public greater access to the Optum report, so that we can act on recommendations to stop fraud in the future,” Rasmusson said. “Throughout session, Democrats blocked access to this report, even for lawmakers serving on committees overseeing DHS. Democrats should join my request to release the full report to committee members and hold a hearing to review the recommendations put forward. Stopping fraud should be more than a talking point, and we should not delay one more day from reviewing this report to demonstrate that we are taking fraud seriously.”
In the DHS response attached to the review, Temporary Commissioner John Connolly says the DHS is assessing the OLA’s recommendations to determine how best to continue eliminating program vulnerabilities and strengthening program integrity. However, he adds that many of the claims initially identified in the Optum report were later determined not to warrant concern after the analytics were corrected to ensure they properly reflect program policy. After refining the analytics, Connolly says the total number of flagged claims was significantly reduced, and the number of denied claims are minimal.
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