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CHARLESTON -- Attorney General Patrick Morrisey's disability fraud partnership generated $1.9 million in projected savings for state and federal governments during the first quarter of 2017, pushing the total savings to $4.4 million since its inception in West Virginia.
The three-month tally nearly ties the amount of savings generated in the unit's first year of existence, proving its increasing effectiveness in reducing Social Security disability fraud, according to a release from Morrisey's office.
"Reducing fraud and abuse must be a priority for government," Morrisey said. "The return on our invested time and effort is tremendous. We want to continue this trend as the unit gains momentum."
The Cooperative Disability Investigations Unit, a partnership with the Social Security Administration, investigates suspicious or questionable disability claims. It investigates beneficiaries, claimants and any third party who facilitates fraud.
The unit's findings help disability examiners make informed decisions and ensure payment accuracy, while also equipping state and federal prosecutors with the facts needed to secure a conviction. This, in turn, generates significant savings for taxpayers.
CDI Units help resolve questions of potential fraud, in many instances, before benefits are ever paid. The Attorney General's Office joined the program in December 2015, making it a first-of-its-kind unit for the Mountain State.
The West Virginia unit joins two investigators and an analyst from the Attorney General's Office with representatives from SSA, its Office of the Inspector General and the state's Disability Determination Section.
Nationally, the CDI program is one of the most successful anti-fraud initiatives with regard to federal disability programs, Morrisey stated. It operates 39 units covering 33 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.
The Attorney General has also asked the Legislature to transfer West Virginia's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit from the state Department of Health and Human Resources to his office. In fact, 43 of 50 units nationwide are housed within the state attorney general's office.
Such a move would fix deficiencies in West Virginia's existing unit and yield greater efficiency and effectiveness to the benefit of the taxpayer.
"If my office handled Medicaid fraud as well, we could save so many millions more than what West Virginia is currently doing," Attorney General Morrisey said. "The State would benefit tremendously."
Members of the public should report suspected disability fraud to the Social Security Fraud Hotline at https://oig.ssa.gov/report; send U.S. Mail to PO Box 17768, Baltimore, MD, 21235; fax (410) 597-0118; or call (800) 269-0271 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Eastern Time, Monday through Friday.