Senate Finance Committee advances broad human-services "program integrity" bill after tense debate

The Minnesota Senate Finance Committee voted May 7 to recommend passage of House File 3379, a sprawling program-integrity package that authors and staff say is meant to strengthen prepayment and postpayment review, tighten provider enrollment and oversight, and reduce improper Medicaid payments.

Authors Sen. Hoffman and Sen. Wicklund presented the bill and emphasized bipartisan, iterative drafting with nonpartisan staff and stakeholders. "We are listening and we're taking feedback from members and the public," Sen. Hoffman said, adding that the provision to eliminate remote supports had been removed and that senators had negotiated changes to nursing-home-rate language with colleagues.

Fiscal staff walked the committee through the bill's spreadsheet. Kyle Raymond, fiscal staff to the Human Services Committee, said the Senate position in the amendment shows a net fiscal effect of roughly a $109 million reduction in the 2026–27 biennium for human-services agencies, with a general-fund reduction of about $110.2 million in 2026–27 and an estimated $96.2 million increase in later years. Raymond described a large component of those numbers as driven by expanded prepayment review and a…