CDR says fraud investigation claim was false

By WILL ASTOR
Rochester Business Journal
August 18, 2010

In a drive to break its contract with the Center for Disability Rights Inc., officials in the administration of Monroe County Executive Maggie Brooks falsely accused CDR of being under investigation for Medicaid fraud, CDR officials said Wednesday.

Brooks cited the agency’s alleged targeting by Medicaid fraud investigators among reasons for canceling a $15.4 million county contract with CDR. The county also cited a dozen complaints against CDR by clients as justification for not renewing the CDR contract, which ran out this month.

CDR was able to identify six of the 12 alleged complainants, whom the county did name. All six refuted the county’s charges, CDR president and CEO Bruce Darling said.

The agency previously denied it was a target of the Medicaid probe but could not offer specific proof until former CDR workers who were charged with Medicaid fraud were convicted of the crime, CDR officials said.

The evidence released by CDR does not absolve the agency but serves as a tacit admission of CDR’s guilt, showing that “under its watch employees committed Medicaid fraud,” Brooks administration spokesman Noah Lebowitz said.

Documents relating to the prosecution of two former CDR aides who were convicted of Medicaid fraud and petit larceny show that CDR, which fired the aides, cooperated with county and state investigators and the Office of the Medicaid Inspector General in the case, CDR officials said.

Copies of documents CDR provided to bolster its contention include a letter from a county probation officer designating CDR as a victim of the convicted aides’ crimes. Also provided by the agency are e-mails sent by a CDR official to Brooks administration counterparts in July and August detailing the Medicaid investigation and stating that CDR promptly fired the aides when it learned of the fraud charges.

The documents show that rather than being a target of a Medicaid probe, CDR “worked diligently with law enforcement to bring these cases to conclusion,” Darling said.

“Although it was painful to have governmental officials making such erroneous allegations, we wouldn’t say anything that might interfere with criminal proceedings,” the CDR chief said. “This is just another example of Monroe County officials lying about our organization in an effort to destroy our reputation, and I am happy that the truth of these cases is coming out.”

The county draws a different conclusion from the same evidence.

“We believe the fact that these two workers were able to commit fraud demonstrates that CDR was a poor manager of the program and justifies the county’s decision not to renew the contract, Lebowitz said. “The true victims are the clients and the taxpayers.”

A court hearing on the contract is slated for Monday. Whether the county can be forced to renew the CDR pact is “not a simple question,” Darling said.

Loss of the county contract would prompt CDR to cut more than 700 jobs and forced the agency to pull out of a deal to buy a summer camp where it had planned to run programs for disabled children, Darling previously told the Rochester Business Journal.