Amendment #1347 to H5500
Public Benefit Fraud and Centralized Data Collection
Representatives Jones of North Reading, Ferguson of Holden, Frost of Auburn, Muradian of Grafton, Vieira of Falmouth and Smola of Warren move to amend the bill by adding the following section:
"SECTION XX. (a) The Massachusetts Office of the Inspector General shall establish and maintain a centralized system for the collection, aggregation, and analysis of data related to fraud, waste, abuse, and improper payments in public assistance and health benefit programs administered by the commonwealth.
(b) The inspector general shall determine data to be submitted pursuant to this section, including, but not limited to, data pertaining to fraud, including spending, federal penalties, and related liabilities. The Department of Transitional Assistance, MassHealth, and the Office of the State Auditor shall, on a quarterly basis, submit such data utilizing the centralized system. The inspector general may direct any contracted entities with said agencies to report relevant data within such programs as well.
(c) Data required to be submitted by each agency shall include, but not be limited to, total amount of spending related to fraud, number of fraudulent payments, number of fraud-related cases, outcomes of cases, federal penalties or liabilities assessed, and anticipated, related to fraudulent spending.
(d) The inspector general shall submit a quarterly report to the clerk of the house and senate detailing the data pertaining to fraud, waste, abuse, and improper payments collected through the centralized system.
(e) The inspector general shall establish and update each quarter a data visualization dashboard on its website which shall be available to the public to make accessible data related to fraud and abuse in public assistance programs.
(f) All data collected and published shall be in the aggregate and de-identified, and no identities shall be disclosed.
(g) This section shall take effect within 6 months of the effective date of this act."