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New Mexico Mental Health Audit Was Altered By Officials

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New Mexico Mental Health Audit Was Altered

New Mexico Mental Health Audit Was Altered

Over the summer, the New Mexico Human Services Department froze medicaid payments to a dozen mental health providers due to allegations of fraud, and those agencies were eventually taken over by Arizona companies.

The basis for those allegations: an audit conducted by an out-of-state company called PCG. That audit was never seen by the public or even by those accused of fraud.

But in October, a heavily redacted version was released, and in it, PCG "did not uncover what it would consider to be credible allegations of fraud."

Here's the problem: that line was removed from a version given to State Auditor Hector Balderas after a court order earlier this year.

"New Mexico sent several million dollars on this audit report," said Balderas. "So it could be a very dangerous slippery slope if we start having officials freely alter documents without any type of authority and in violation of court order."

A Human Services Department spokesman says the agency is the "only entity that can determine credible allegations of fraud against a Medicaid provider." Because of that, State officials asked PCG to remove the no-credible-allegations-statement.

The State Auditors Office says it has not concluded whether altered versions of the audit were also given to law enforcement agencies, and has gone back to court.

Tristan Ahtone was a reporter for the Fronteras Desk from 2012 to 2014.