H.R. 10636
Medicaid Fraud Prevention Act
Official summary
Written by the Congressional Research Service.
Medicaid Fraud Prevention Act
This bill requires state Medicaid programs to regularly assess their programs for fraud and take corrective actions.
Specifically, states must complete a fraud risk assessment on at least an annual basis, implement a corrective action plan to address any identified vulnerabilities, and report on the results to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). The CMS must analyze this information and annually report the information to Congress.
The fraud risk assessments must include a comprehensive assessment of the risks of fraud across the entirety of a state's Medicaid program, including with respect to managed care entities and eligibility and enrollment systems. The assessments must, to the extent practicable, utilize data from specified existing program integrity systems (e.g., Medicaid fraud control units). The CMS must issue guidelines on how states may identify areas that are at the highest risk of fraud.
Text of the bill
This Act may be cited as the Medicaid Fraud Prevention Act.
Section 1902 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1396a) is amended—
(1) in subsection (a)—
(A) in paragraph (89), by striking and at the end;
(B) in paragraph (90), by striking the period at the end and inserting ; and; and
(C) by inserting after paragraph (90) the following new paragraph:
(91) provide that the State shall comply with the fraud risk assessment requirements under subsection (zz).
; and
(2) by adding at the end the following new subsection:
(zz) Fraud risk assessment requirements
(1) In general. For purposes of subsection (a)(91), the fraud risk assessment requirements under this subsection are that the State shall—
(A) not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this subsection and not less frequently than annually thereafter, complete a fraud risk assessment as described in paragraph (2);
(B) not later than 90 days after completing such an assessment, implement a corrective action plan to address any vulnerabilities identified in such assessment that includes measurable outcomes and specific deadlines with respect to the completion of corrective actions under such plan; and
(C) not later than 1 year after the completion of the first fraud risk assessment under this subsection, and annually thereafter, submit to the Secretary a report that includes the information specified in paragraph (3) with respect to the preceding year.
(2) Fraud risk assessment described
(A) In general. For purposes of paragraph (1), a fraud risk assessment described in this paragraph is a comprehensive assessment of fraud risks across all components of the State plan (and any waiver of such plan), including with respect to medical assistance provided on a fee-for-service basis, medical assistance provided through a managed care entity, and eligibility determination and enrollment systems (including systems operated by or on behalf of the State for the purposes of eligibility verification and redetermination) under such plan (or waiver), that—
(i) to the extent practicable, uses data from existing Federal and State program integrity systems, including—
(I) the Payment Error Rate Measurement program (or any successor program);
(II) the Transformed Medicaid Statistical Information System (or any successor system);
(III) managed care encounter data;
(IV) data from a State medicaid fraud control unit (as defined in section 1903(q)) or another program integrity activity;
(V) the Public Assistance Reporting Information System (PARIS) (or any successor system); and
(VI) beginning October 1, 2029, the system established by the Secretary under subsection (uu);
(ii) identifies and ranks the most significant fraud, waste, and abuse vulnerabilities of such plan (or waiver);
(iii) estimates the amount that could potentially be improperly expended under such plan (or waiver) due to each such vulnerability, including any improper payments associated with each such vulnerability, with respect to, at minimum, the 12-month period beginning on the date on which such assessment is completed;
(iv) evaluates the effectiveness of existing program integrity tools under such plan (or waiver);
(v) identifies gaps in data sharing, oversight, and enforcement with respect to fraud, waste, and abuse under such plan (or waiver); and
(vi) follows the guidelines established by the Secretary under subparagraph (B).
(B) Establishment of guidelines. Not later than January 1, 2027, the Secretary shall establish guidelines that—
(i) identify and define standardized categories of fraud, waste, and abuse risk across State plans (and waivers of such plans), including with respect to eligibility determinations, provider enrollments, claims processing, and managed care;
(ii) establish criteria for the identification, scoring, and prioritization of categories of risk identified under clause (i) on the basis of the likelihood of such risks and estimates of potential improper expenditures (as described in subparagraph (A)(iii)) due to such risks; and
(iii) enable fraud risk assessments completed under this subsection by different States to be effectively compared.
(3) Information specified. For purposes of paragraph (1), the information specified in this paragraph is—
(A) the results of any fraud risk assessments conducted under paragraph (1)(A);
(B) the most significant fraud, waste, and abuse vulnerabilities identified under such assessments;
(C) the potential improper expenditures (as described in paragraph (2)(A)(iii)) estimated under such assessments;
(D) corrective actions taken or planned to be taken under paragraph (1)(B) with respect to such vulnerabilities; and
(E) an explanation of any progress made in addressing such vulnerabilities.
(4) Annual report to Congress. Not later than 1 year after the date on which the first report under paragraph (1)(C) is submitted to the Secretary, and annually thereafter, the Secretary shall submit to Congress a report that, with respect to the preceding year—
(A) analyzes the findings from reports submitted to the Secretary under such paragraph;
(B) identifies national trends with respect to Medicaid fraud risk;
(C) evaluates State implementation of corrective action plans implemented under paragraph (1)(B); and
(D) includes recommendations for legislative or administrative action to address fraud, waste, and abuse vulnerabilities identified in such reports.