Executive Fiala Announces Broome Participation in Medicaid Fraud Program VERIFY NY Aims to Target Waste and Abuse

BINGHAMTON, NY - Broome County Executive Barbara J. Fiala announces Broome County's participation in a pilot program to crack down on Medicaid fraud. The project includes an IBM computer program called VERIFY NY that enables counties to flag inefficiencies and billing irregularities. The demonstration project makes counties partners in the effort to detect, investigate and prosecute Medicaid fraud.

"I am proud to say New York State Association of Counties is taking the lead in trying to eliminate fraud within the Medicaid system", said Barbara J. Fiala, Broome County Executive. "As everyone knows, Medicaid is extremely expensive for counties like Broome and I am please to be one of only ten counties to participate in this demonstration program."

Some conservative estimates say New York State's Medicaid fraud rate is about 4% which translates to $2 billion dollars.

"By participating in this project we are not assuming there is fraud on the local level", said Fiala. "However, if we do nothing we will never know and I'd rather take steps to protect the taxpayers' dollars than simply hope there is not a problem."

Any local expenses related to the VERIFY NY program will be reimbursed by New York State. In addition, because Broome County is one of the first ten counties to participate in this demonstration program, the county stands to recover a portion of the proceeds, if fraud is detected and prosecuted and compensation is required by the offending parties.

Broome County's 2005 Medicaid expenses will exceed $230 million dollars, of which $40 million comes from local taxpayers.

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