By Bill Raack, KWMU
St. Louis, MO. – A panel of state lawmakers considering Medicaid fraud held the last of its hearings in St. Louis Wednesday.
A proposal to toughen penalties on Medicaid cheaters was rejected this year by lawmakers.
But the Missouri House committee is reconsidering the legislation in hopes the Governor will call a special session of the General Assembly this fall.
Pat Capsar with Bethesda Health Group in St. Louis testified that such a bill is unnecessary.
"We do a lot of training to our staff," Capsar said. "We teach our staff how to not only look for problems, not only should they report them but they're obligated to report them. We don't need another layer added to it."
The Republican chairman of the House committee says he is not confident an agreement can be reached between House and Senate negotiators on a Medicaid fraud bill this year.