Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele, Jr. (I, D, WF, REF - Sag Harbor) announced that the New York State Office of the Medicaid Inspector General (OMIG) is sharing resources to help protect individuals against Medicaid fraud as well as instructions on how to report it.

Healthcare fraud is not a victimless crime. Not only does it drain taxpayer funds, but it can jeopardize the health of recipients in many ways. For instance, if a Medicaid number is improperly shared, someone else’s medical information could be placed in the recipient’s health record. This could lead to treatment mistakes or denial of care if the same treatment is needed but was already provided and paid for by Medicaid for the wrong individual.

Recipients also may not realize when they are being used by an unscrupulous provider or by someone who is trying to gain access to their Medicaid ID number to defraud the system. Similarly, providers may not recognize when a recipient is “doctor or pharmacy shopping” to support an addiction to prescription drugs.

OMIG has information on recognizing and reporting Medicaid fraud on its website at https://omig.ny.gov/fraud