Lieske: Legitimate Medicaid providers being cut off due to Gov. Walz mismanagement

Friends and neighbors,

Thousands of Minnesotans who depend on disability services, autism therapy, addiction recovery care, and in-home support are at risk of losing their providers because the state abruptly terminated the Medicaid enrollment of more than 3,400 service organizations.

I have spent the last several days fielding frantic calls and emails from providers across the district and throughout Minnesota who are confused, angry, and scared about what is happening. Many of those providers say they did everything right and got cut off anyway. They don’t know what comes next for them and for the people they serve, but they need help.

Minnesota's Medicaid programs have been plagued by fraud for many, many years. Federal investigators have estimated that as much as $9 billion may have been stolen from state programs since 2018. For years, the Walz administration downplayed the problem and resisted accountability even when many of us tried to raise concerns. Whistleblowers from within the Department of Human Services were ignored and retaliated against. When the Trump administration finally threatened to withhold up to $2 billion in annual Medicaid funding unless Minnesota cleaned up its act, the state found itself having to do in four months what should have been done years ago.

The state reviewed 5,583 providers enrolled in programs considered high-risk for fraud. Of those, 2,061 were approved and kept enrolled. Another 3,411 had their Medicaid enrollment terminated by the May 31 deadline. Only a handful of these -- 59 -- were due to possible risk of fraud. Most of those terminations, nearly 2,500 of them, were due to incomplete paperwork issues.

But I have been taking a lot of calls from providers who say their paperwork was complete. They submitted everything they were asked to submit. The missing pieces were site visits -- these providers tried to schedule them, but the agency did not conduct them.

The stakes are urgent. Fraud is pervasive in Minnesota, for sure, but that is not who these providers are. These are legitimate organizations providing round-the-clock care for people with spinal cord injuries. They are clinics providing autism therapy to children. They are addiction recovery programs where patients have nowhere else to go. They are desperately trying to make payroll. Some are preparing to furlough staff. The people receiving these services, some of the most vulnerable Minnesotans in the state, are now caught in the middle of a mess the Walz administration created and then failed to manage.

All terminated providers have the right to appeal, and I strongly encourage anyone in that situation to do so immediately. Here are the resources DHS has made available:

If you or someone you know has been affected by this, please contact my office. I will do everything I can to help legitimate providers get their licenses reinstated so they can get back to serving their patients.

Sincerely,

Senator Bill Lieske