By Rob Nikolewski │ New Mexico Watchdog
SANTA FE — In a wide-ranging case where allegations of $36 million of alleged fraud have been leveled against 15 New Mexico behavioral health providers, the state’s Human Services Department reauthorized Medicaid funding to two organizations on Monday — but only after they agreed to pay a combined $4.24 [...]

By Rob Nikolewski │ New Mexico Watchdog
SANTA FE – The long-running drama over allegations of misspent Medicaid dollars has been extended.
New Mexico Attorney General Gary King on Thursday said his department’s investigation into charges of up to $36 million in potential fraud against 15 behavioral health-care providers will run for at least two more months.
“We [...]

By Rob Nikolewski │ New Mexico Watchdog
SANTA FE – Allegations of what the Human Services Department has called “credible allegations of fraud” among behavioral health providers has sparked a heated debate.
The source of the discourse is the department’s decision to suspend Medicaid payments, and both sides have they’ve taken to the airwaves with radio spots.
In [...]

By Rob Nikolewski │ New Mexico Watchdog
SANTA FE – As the controversy continues over allegations of $36 million in potential misuse of funds, a former Green Party candidate for statewide and national office said she has a sense of déjà vu.
“I haven’t read the audit” of the providers in question, “but I do have concerns [...]

By Rob Nikolewski │ New Mexico Watchdog
CHAMA – An estimated $36 million in potential fraud is a lot of money but members from both parties in the Legislative Finance Committee don’t like what they say is a lack of transparency from the Human Services Department.
As a result, on Wednesday the committee in a 15-1 vote supported an objection [...]

By Rob Nikolewski │ New Mexico Watchdog
SANTA FE – New Mexico has one of the highest rates in the country for people receiving food stamps, but how accurately those benefits are distributed is decidedly mixed.
A look by New Mexico Watchdog at the latest national statistics from the federal government shows both good news and bad.
On [...]

By Rob Nikolewski │ New Mexico Watchdog
SANTA FE — In one corner are allegations that some $36 million has been misspent by behavioral health providers in New Mexico.
In the other corner are the providers, who say it’s unfair their Medicaid funding was suspended while the state’s Attorney General’s office — and possibly other law enforcement [...]

Roundhouse Democrats are spitting mad, demanding that funding be restored to 15 behavioral health providers across the state.
But in a profound political irony, the deputy chief of the New Mexico Attorney General’s Office said Thursday that changes in federal statute due to President Obama’s Affordable Care Act have vested sweeping powers into the hands of the [...]

Rob Nikolewski of New Mexico Watchdog appeared on “New Mexico In Focus,” the weekly KNME-TV public affairs program, last Friday as a panelist on talking to host Gene Grant, talking about a number of political issues across the state.
Here’s an excerpt concerning the controversy swirling over behavioral health and the Human Services Department as well [...]

The battle over capital outlay projects continues.
New Mexico Watchdog has learned that 11 Democrats in the state Senate have sent a letter to Attorney General Gary King asking his office to offer an opinion on an executive order that Republican Gov. Susana Martinez signed in early May.
In an attempt to get communities and entities that have [...]