August 19th 2014
Unemployment and Medicaid state agencies are stopping improper payments to people who are incarcerated using RiskCheckNow®
LOUISVILLE, Ky – Appriss Inc., the nationwide provider of RiskCheckNow, is helping entitlement agencies prevent, detect and recover improper payment of entitlement benefits to individuals that are in jail or prison.
Incarceration impacts eligibility with nearly all public benefit programs. However, each year hundreds of millions of dollars are improperly paid to ineligible recipients who are currently in custody. Historically, the agencies administering these programs have not had access to an accurate and timely data source for incarceration records that include booking date, release date, correction facility name, and contact information. Without that accurate and timely data it is nearly impossible to determine these fraudulent claims.
For the fiscal year of 2013, the amount of improper federal payments totaled approximately $106 billion. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services indicated improper payments of $65.3 billion in 2013, which was an increase of $500 million in misspent expenditures since 2012. This evaluation was conducted using financial reports from fiscal year 2013, which were provided by the U.S. government. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, states recorded some $7.7 billion in improper unemployment insurance payments. The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported improper spending of taxpayer dollars to be $6.2 billion, this figure was for 2013 alone and includes $2.6 billion that was erroneously spent on Food Stamp benefits.
Appriss’ RiskCheckNow is designed to prevent entitlement fraud. Early notification of potential risks allows program administrators to research and create plans to mitigate losses from fraudulent activity. Government entitlement programs have been saving millions each year using RiskCheckNow.
In 2012, Appriss worked with the Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES) to cross match unemployment benefit recipients against the incarceration records that Appriss manages. Appriss was able to identify more than 1,100 recipients located in county jails or prison. Their findings led to the identification of over $2 million in overpayments. IDES Director Jay Rowell stated, “The inmate cross-‐matching initiative is another important step in rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse.”
In early 2014 the Utah Department of Workforce Services began implementation of RiskCheckNow’s fraud prevention program. Taylee Foulger, a Utah department of workforce specialist stated, “RiskCheckNow has been very positive and is one of the easiest tools we use in the department.” They discovered 135 overpayments from April through June of this year and recovered over $45,000. “The Department of Labor has increased standards in identifying fraudulent activity and we have been able to reach those standards very quickly,” said Josh Hopkins, team supervisor.
With 12 states using the RiskCheckNow solution, and several more working on implementations, entitlement benefit program directors are able to investigate fraud and stop payments or benefits before multiple millions of tax dollars are wasted.
Appriss provides data-‐driven solutions that help thousands of government and commercial agencies mitigate risk and keep in compliance with laws and policies. With our unique data and solutions, we help our partners save millions in fraudulent activities, reduce risk and fight crime; all backed by customer support that is available 24x7x365. Appriss hires
former loss and prevention executives as well as law enforcement to help shape our solutions including RiskCheckNow®, TrueCompliance™, NPLEx® and PMP GATEWAY™. For more information visit www.appriss.com.
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