The nonpartisan Office of the Legislative Auditor released a special review of the heavily redacted Optum Report last week.

The original Optum analysis identified more than $52 million in improper Medicaid payments over four years across 14 programs and flagged more than $1 billion for further review.

A law passed this year allows the Legislature to obtain the full report if both the chair and ranking member of the House or Senate Human Services Committee request it. The OLA review includes a DHS response stating that request has not been made.

Senate Human Services Committee ranking Republican Jordan Rasmusson (Fergus Falls) issued the following statement:

“This Office of the Legislative Auditor review brings more clarity to vulnerabilities and failings at the Department of Human Services that enabled systemic fraud to occur. I have been advocating for allowing lawmakers and the public greater access to the Optum report, so that we can act on recommendations to stop fraud in the future.

"Throughout session, Democrats blocked access to this report, even for lawmakers serving on committees overseeing DHS. Democrats should join my request to release the full report to committee members and hold a hearing to review the recommendations put forward. Stopping fraud should be more than a talking point, and we should not delay one more day from reviewing this report to demonstrate that we are taking fraud seriously.”