health insurers fight audits on Medicaid

As Medicaid continues down a fiscally unsustainable path, states are searching for ways to lessen waste, fraud, and abuse in the system. The state of New York employed aggressive fraud-prevention efforts, but objections from providers have caused the state to alter its approach. In 2006, Republican Gov. George Pataki created the Office of the Medicaid Inspector General to crack down on misspending. The federal government granted the state $1.5 billion for the new office to…