Senate committee advances MAP Act to expand Medicaid fraud investigations and staffing

The Minnesota Senate Judiciary & Public Safety Committee on April 13 voted to advance Senate File 26-89, the Medical Assistance Protection (MAP) Act, after adopting a comprehensive A6 amendment that adds expanded investigative tools and a state appropriation to enlarge the Medicaid fraud control unit.

The bill's sponsor, Senator Anne Johnson Stewart, said the amendment consolidates changes made in prior committee stops and includes appropriations already passed by the State and Local Government Committee. Johnson Stewart described the measure as intended to strengthen the attorney general's ability to investigate and prosecute fraud against the medical assistance program.

Attorney General Keith Ellison, introduced by the sponsor as a testifier, told the committee investigators are protecting taxpayer funds and vulnerable Minnesotans. "When people commit Medicaid fraud, they're stealing from our most vulnerable members of our community," Ellison said, urging the panel to give the unit more tools and staff.

Nick Wonka, director of the attorney general's Medicaid fraud unit, outlined the technical changes the amendment would make. He said the draft would amend the state's fraud statutes to close gaps that have limited prosecutions in district court and would require proof of intent to defraud to avoid sweeping in accidental errors. "Intent to defraud...covers the mens rea or mental state that the state must prove," Wonka said, describing why the amendment retains a proof-of-intent requirement. He also described a penalty tier for offenses above $1,000,000 and said the measure adds restitution and continuing-offense provisions.

Wonka told the committee that the amendment would give the attorney general subpoena authority similar to county attorneys and the Department of Human Services for provider-focused investigations, and that certain financial-record authorities in the draft are limited to Medicaid provider-fraud investigations under section 256B.12. During questions, Wonka explained current investigative practice: investigators can subpoena the existence of an account but often must seek a search warrant and involve local law enforcement to get the content of financial records, a process that can take weeks.

Members pressed whether the new subpoena authorities would supplant county attorneys or local law enforcement; Wonka said they would not. Other members raised concerns that insurance-records language could be broader than intended; the committee considered and adopted an A11 amendment that narrows those subsections so they apply only to investigations under section 256B.12 (the Medicaid provider authority) by an 8-2 roll call vote.

After adopting the A6 amendment as amended, the committee approved the bill and recommended it be re-referred to the Senate Committee on Health and Human Services.

Why it matters: testimony said the MAP Act would grow the Medicaid fraud control unit from 32 to 50 staff (the figure cited in testimony as the CMS-recommended staffing level) and include a state appropriation that the testimony described as leveraged by a federal 3-to-1 match (testimony said the state would fund roughly 25% with the federal government paying the rest). Supporters said the changes will align the attorney general's subpoena authority with other investigative entities and improve the speed and scope of fraud investigations; some members urged continued attention to transparency and limits.

The committee did not finalize statutory text beyond the amendments adopted; the bill will proceed to Health & Human Services for further consideration.