Summary: One New York office responsible for collecting overpayments for medicaid providers is the Office of Special Prosecutor. This office has over 400 professional employees and about 140 clerical and support staff involved in collecting overpayments and prosecuting providers who defraud the program. As of September 30, 1978, $3.8 million of medicaid overpayments had been collected, and interest earned on these collected funds was $301,187. All of these collected funds have been deposited in a special, interest-bearing account controlled by the State Comptroller's Office, but none of the funds have been returned to the Federal Government. According to State medicaid officials, return of the Federal share has been delayed because State and local officials have been unable to agree on a formula for distributing to each local government its proportionate share of the recovered funds. State officials advised that the Federal share would be adjusted on the Statement of Expenditures for the quarter ended September 30, 1978. The Administrator of the Health Care Financing Administration should require that: the appropriate adjustment or recoupment is made for the collected funds, including interest, on the September 30, 1978, Statement of Expenditures; and the Federal Government be given timely credit for its share of future collections.
