Maryland investigators have recovered $26,496,631 from fraud, waste and abuse of the state’s Medicaid Program during fiscal year 2010, Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown announced Thursday.

Brown said the False Health Claims Act, which goes into effect Oct. 1, will allow the state to recover even more dollars.
Since 2006, the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene has identified or recovered more than $100 million in Medicaid fraud and waste, according to DHMH Inspector General Thomas V. Russell.

The MDMH’s Program Integrity Unit was responsible for identifying the $26 million in fraud.

According to the department, studies have shown that for every dollar spent on fraud enforcement, the federal government has recovered $15. State efforts have reaped even more rewards, officials said.