Several of my colleagues and I were speculating today about the news that an unnamed Department of Human Services employee is under investigation for embezzling $1 million in Medicaid funds. We kept asking each other how this person managed to siphon away that much money without anyone noticing. My guess is that this person established a dummy medical provider and submitted false claims to the state. I can’t think of any other way one could get around the Department’s internal financial controls. The details will emerge soon enough and we’ll have to take a few licks in the media about not doing enough to prevent fraud and abuse, along with assorted cracks about government workers. It’s dismaying news and a distraction from all the good work DHS does.
