Kantrowitz: Supports State Fraud Program Office

New City, NY  (June 5, 2014) - The Rockland County Legislature unanimously passed a resolution sponsored by Legislator Barry Kantrowitz (New City-Pomona) which supports state Senate and Assembly bills (S.4815 and A.6988) that propose the creation of an Enterprise Fraud Program Office to provide for the detection and prevention of fraud, waste, abuse and improper payments by state government through the use of modern technology across state agencies, programs and functions.

The program office, explained Legislator Kantrowitz, would be established within the office of the State Inspector General and employ the use of analytical software to detect fraud or abuse across state agencies that oversee state-supported citizen and employee benefits programs, such as workers' compensation, unemployment insurance, tax compliance and Medicaid.

"There are a number of social service programs that serve a great purpose to those in need," said Legislator Kantrowitz.  "Yet, there is always a concern that some take advantage.  These different agencies have the responsibility to detect fraud or misuse that requires constant vigilance and may be beyond their capabilities due to general responsibilities and the lack of modern technology.   The Enterprise Fraud Program would link data from all these agencies through state-of-the-art fraud detection and prevention technology and help agencies reduce their losses to fraud, abuse or incorrect payments."

"Our department of Social Services and the District Attorney are doing an excellent job of detecting fraud in Rockland," said Legislator Kantrowitz,  "however, many of the investigations must be turned over to the state and either are not pursued or are pursued without any benefit to the local community.  The use of technology to coordinate data across agencies and programs would increase efficiency, speed up investigations, and potentially result in millions of dollars in cost-savings to the State."

Kantrowitz added that his resolution and the state Senate and Assembly bills address the fact that government officials recognize the importance of providing aid to those in need, "but we must cut payments to those who unlawfully take advantage of the system.  Utilizing modern technology is a cost effective way to address this growing problem. I thank my colleagues for their unanimous support of this resolution."