Walz outlines anti-fraud package and proposes centralizing human-services administration

Gov. Tim Walz said the state is stepping up anti-fraud efforts and floated an administrative overhaul of human-services programs aimed at strengthening program integrity.

Walz described a nine-part fraud-prevention roadmap that includes increased investigators and auditors, partnerships with law enforcement, use of sophisticated analytics to detect suspicious activity, higher criminal penalties for defrauding taxpayers and creation of a centralized office to lead statewide fraud prevention.

He also proposed transforming human-services administration by consolidating functions currently spread across counties, managed-care organizations and state agencies into a more centralized model for Medicaid administration, saying the goal is to ensure controls are in place "before the money goes out the door." The governor thanked Tim OMalley (Director of Program Integrity) for work on the package.

The governor did not present statutory language or a timeline for statutory changes during the address; legislative action would be required for criminal-penalty changes or structural reorganization of administration.

Attribution: Policy text and program descriptions are from Gov. Walz's address to the joint convention.