Dozens of health care groups and advocacy groups this week are calling for a measure that is meant to create due process protections for health care providers when they are audited by the Office of the Medicaid Inspector General. 

At issue has become the outcomes of many of the audits, which have led to large fines often as the result of clerical errors. In one instance, a provider was hit with a $7.7 million fine for clerical errors worth $400, and no fraud or abuse was found. 

The push to make changes to the office comes after it was first created 15 years to bolster oversight of one of the costliest areas of the state budget, New York's health care program for low-income residents. The office was created as a way to cut down on waste, fraud and abuse within the system. 

But for many providers, the inspector general's work has been too onerous when good-faith errors occur. 

“For too long, audits conducted by the OMIG have included the use of tactics that fail to take a transparent or fair and balanced approach to the audit and recovery process,” a letter from the groups to Gov. Kathy Hochul stated. “As a result, providers who have operated in good faith and delivered high-quality care to clients, but who may have made human errors in the process, have been punished as if they had intentionally and maliciously defrauded the state.”

A bill backed by state Sen. Peter Harckham and Assemblyman Richard Gottfried would require the Medicaid inspector general to notify a health care provider if the compliance program is not doing enough and allow for a two-month window to make changes. 

The recovery of overpayments would not take place until after 60 days of a final audit report. A repeat review or audit within the last three years of the same contracts, reports, claims or bills would be prohibited unless new information or good cause comes to light. 

And the Medicaid inspector general would have to provide an exit conference or detailed written explanations of any draft audit with findings to the provider. 

Many of the groups signing on to the letter in support of the changes are drug treatment providers that provide services to people with addiction problems. 

“New York patients cannot afford to lose any more drug treatment providers, especially over unintentional administrative errors,” said Harckham, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Alcoholism and Substance Abuse. “The senseless undermining of essential healthcare programs, including those dealing with the opioid overdose epidemic, needs to stop. Let’s not lose sight that these programs save lives, so regulatory efforts should be in line with supporting and improving services, not crippling them.”