Director of Arizona Medicaid Agency Resigns Following Fraud Response — ProPublica

This week, the Director of the Anti -Anti -Directory Director resigned as soon as she is expected to face the lawmakers about its large -scale fraud scheme, which is largely directed at the Indians.

Governor Katie Hobs, a Democrat, announced on Wednesday that Carmen Herad, director of the Arizona health care costs, took resignation. The governor excited the leadership of the Ered Agency, accusing the republican legislators of politicizing the confirmation process, saying that it became clear that they would not confirm the nomination of the ered.

Senator Jake Hoffman, Republican and Chairman of the Senate Committee, said in a statement that, responding to the fraud scheme, ered was “badly shot” for suspending hundreds of behavioral health workers. Ered held the position of AHCCS leader without confirmation of the Senate from the beginning of 2023, a few years after the officials said that the fraud probably began during the republican administration of the former Governor Dussi. A year before the ered became the director, Records show that officials It was warned that the fraud was harmful to patients, but they were struggling and not warned by the public, which the ered made along with other state leaders in May 2023.

(Earlier this year, Dui’s press -secretary does not comment on the missed opportunities to stop the fraud but said that the former governor went to a long duration to help the Hobs transition.)

Under the guidance of Heredia, AHCCS contained more than 300 businesses when the agency investigated the allegations that they falsely put up Medicaid for treatment services. Often the services were not provided, and business owners were accused of allowing patients to continue using the substances they hoped to overcome through treatment.

In her statement, Ered stated that she had resigned with a big heart and expressed concern that the guerrilla agenda had led to the experts dragged “through a career that was harming the hearings.” Two years ago, the Republicans of the Senate thwarted the nomination of one of the previous Hobs elections to head the Health Department.

Last September, more than a year after the repression began, the Arizona Center for Reporting and Propublica reported that The Snacks made patients homeless. The victims of this scheme, some of the other states, also left without access to drug treatment and alcohol that they sought.

For several years, the enterprises are mostly Arizona, but mostly in Phoenix, huge Medicaid’s huge compensation, counting the Indians in their programs and exposing the State American Indian Health Program for Services, such as consulting sessions. (AIHP – This is the Medicaid insurance option that has not yet been detected by fraud, had no restriction on the amount of money suppliers that could bill for services.)

At a press conference on Thursday, Prosecutor General Chris Meiss, Democrat, said there were still more than 100 charges and 25 convictions related to the scheme. She also said she was expecting more charges.

Over the past two years, AHCCS has stated that the main priority of the officials was the safety of patients, and in May 2023 the agency created a hotline for the victims. He provided a brief stay at hotels for people moved from closed premises. However, last year, AHCCS said it did not record what happened with a majority of hotline 11,400 subscribers, largely because six months later it stopped tracking the results for people who did not stay in the hotel. According to available data, more than 575 people have been without housing since September last year. Azcir and propublica It was also revealed that at least 40 residents of indigenous residents of sober live houses and medical institutions in the Phoenix area died when the state set up their response.

Several canceled providers who are from hundreds were allowed to resume the Medicaid bill after cleaning the state. But they said the suspension was still pushed to the border financially and assisted the patients, found a lake and propublica. As a result, the rapid and aggressive reaction of the ered to the crisis – which the authorities stated that it was necessary for the introduction of fraud and saving life – caused concern that behavioral medicine, especially for indigenous Americans, is increasingly difficult to get.

“Under Katie Hobs, Ered’s reaction was, to put it mildly, incredibly disturbing,” Hoffman said. “We have a broken system because of the mismanagement of Ered, and our vulnerable populations fall into this collapse.”

The Senate -Senate -Senate -Socialist Press refused to interview Hoffman.

While Hoffman’s statement was mostly focused on the fraud scheme, which, according to the authorities, cost the state of $ 2 billion, he said he also made other issues within the AHCC related long -term care.

In addition to the resignation of Ered, this week, Jennifer Kunik, the director of the Arizona Health Department, also left the post. Like the ered, Kunik had to appear before the legislators to confirm the hearings. Kunik said she was proud of her work in the department, but made a difficult decision to withdraw her nomination after it became clear that it would not be confirmed. Her resignation took place two years after the preliminary choice of the Hobs to head the Department of Health, abandoning the nomination after a hot hearing.

Hoffman said Kunik defended the pandemic reaction of public health officials during meetings with legislators but did not submit details. Earlier, Hoffman sponsored a legislation that banned state and local agencies to take mandates on the vaccine.

The governor defended the ered ‘reaction to the crisis of fraud and stated that both the ered and the Kunik worked on a number of initiatives, including improving the mother’s health.

“Carmen Herad helped eradicate the multi-billion dollar wave of Medicaid fraud and related humanitarian cases that the previous administration ignored,” the Hobs said. “Her work to eliminate waste, fraud and abuse in our health care system is a model for the nation, and it has always provided people who needed help, and continued to get it.”

She added: “The unprecedented policy of the Senate in the process of confirming the director has graduated from the director of two healthcare providers who made our state government more effectively and more effectively.”