Administration Aims to Root out Medicaid Fraud, Improve Government Performance

Press Release

The Dayton Administration today announced another major step to make state government work better for Minnesotans, launching the use of data analytics to detect and prevent Medicaid fraud and improve performance in many other areas.

The Department of Administration issued a Request for Proposal for firms to provide quantitative tools such as data analytics in support of the Administration's goals to save taxpayers' money, reduce waste and make government work better for citizens. This advanced approach will be available to all state agencies. Through the state's cooperative purchasing venture, it will also be available to cities, counties, school districts and the state's public higher education institutions.

Analytics will be used to detect and prevent fraud in such areas as Medicaid, worker's compensation, unemployment, procurement, and taxes; to improve management of state assets such as buildings and fleet management; and to find better value for taxpayer dollars, including strategic planning and data quality analysis.

"These analytical tools will help the Department of Human Services prevent Medicaid fraud before it happens. We want to be able to assure Minnesota taxpayers that their hard-earned dollars are being spent properly," said Lucinda Jesson, Commissioner of Human Services.

"With these analytical tools we can bring the best practices of the private sector to improve our work," said Commissioner of Administration Spencer Cronk. "This administration is committed to delivering better results to Minnesota's taxpayers. This is an important step toward that goal."

This RFP is the first step in determining how much these tools can reduce the costs of Minnesota government. The Department of Revenue already uses analytic tools to improve the tax compliance audits. This RFP will help other state agencies determine how they can reduce costs. Data analytics have been used successfully by other public and private sector organizations to improve decision making and outcomes.

"The Department of Revenue welcomes opportunities to fine-tune and strengthen our compliance efforts," said Commissioner Myron Frans. "Many of our audits are already driven by analytical data, and we were among the first agencies in the country to establish a data warehouse and use analytics to increase the effectiveness of our audits. This is a good next step."

The process began with a Request for Proposals (RFP), soliciting for the services and tools to provide data analytics. The RFP includes the possibility of payment based on savings achieved or costs recovered. The RFP notice can be viewed in the State Register's online edition, (page 1585, viewable as page 23 of the PDF).

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