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State Senator Tom O’Mara (R-Big Flats) announced this week he is sponsoring legislation in the Senate to reimburse counties for the cost of purchasing cutting-edge computer software that could help pinpoint cases of Medicaid fraud and other abuses of the system and potentially save state and local taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars.
“Governor Cuomo has zeroed in on the need to control Medicaid spending as the number one way to address New York’s highest-in-the-nation tax burden. This year’s state budget took important steps, but we need to keep going,” said O’Mara. “We need a ‘zero tolerance’ policy to combat the millions upon millions, if not billions of taxpayer dollars lost to Medicaid fraud and abuse. One of the most effective ways to prevent fraud is to give localities the necessary tools, including cutting-edge technology, to identify it and take steps to stop it. It would be a wise investment and could ultimately prove enormously cost-effective for the state to encourage its use.”
O’Mara has strongly supported cutting-edge, data mining computer software like that developed by the Horseheads-based Salient Corporation. Salient has developed and continued to fine-tune a computer software package, already successfully used by Chemung and nearly a dozen other counties statewide, as well as the state Office of the Medicaid Inspector General (OMIG. Officials believe the software could point the way to hundreds of millions and potentially billions of dollars in Medicaid fraud and waste prevention at the state level.
New York has long had the nation’s most expensive Medicaid program. According to a USA Today analysis New York spent $2,903 per person on Medicaid last year, or one-third more than any other state. The national average was $1,364.
State Senator Tom O’Mara (R-Big Flats) announced this week he is sponsoring legislation in the Senate to reimburse counties for the cost of purchasing cutting-edge computer software that could help pinpoint cases of Medicaid fraud and other abuses of the system and potentially save state and local taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars.
“Governor Cuomo has zeroed in on the need to control Medicaid spending as the number one way to address New York’s highest-in-the-nation tax burden. This year’s state budget took important steps, but we need to keep going,” said O’Mara. “We need a ‘zero tolerance’ policy to combat the millions upon millions, if not billions of taxpayer dollars lost to Medicaid fraud and abuse. One of the most effective ways to prevent fraud is to give localities the necessary tools, including cutting-edge technology, to identify it and take steps to stop it. It would be a wise investment and could ultimately prove enormously cost-effective for the state to encourage its use.”
O’Mara has strongly supported cutting-edge, data mining computer software like that developed by the Horseheads-based Salient Corporation. Salient has developed and continued to fine-tune a computer software package, already successfully used by Chemung and nearly a dozen other counties statewide, as well as the state Office of the Medicaid Inspector General (OMIG. Officials believe the software could point the way to hundreds of millions and potentially billions of dollars in Medicaid fraud and waste prevention at the state level.
New York has long had the nation’s most expensive Medicaid program. According to a USA Today analysis New York spent $2,903 per person on Medicaid last year, or one-third more than any other state. The national average was $1,364.
