Bigger investigation of autism centers

KSTP reports:

Hundreds of autism centers popped up to meet demand in Minnesota. Now 85 are under investigation.

KSTP reckons that works out to one of every five providers in the state.

Exactly one year ago today, we added autism centers to ScandalTracker, based on reports of investigations already underway of suspect providers. One year ago, some 330 providers were receiving $200 million a year from the state reimbursement program. At the time, the state Dept. of Human Services (DHS) was said to be investigating some 25 providers.

By August 2024, the number reported to be under investigation was up to 29.

In December 2024, the FBI conducted raids on two autism clinics, one in Minneapolis and one in St. Cloud.

KSTP now reports:

[T]he program has experienced significant growth in recent years, marked by an increase in the number of claims and new providers. There are now more than 450 autism centers registered in the state.

That’s an increase of providers, going from 330 to 450, and annual payouts, going from $200 million to $250 million. But investigations increased from 25 to 85. That works out to almost 20 percent of the entire number of providers as being currently under investigation.

It’s good that DHS is doing more investigations. But you have to wonder how many millions of dollars have gone out the door to fraudulent providers in the past year. Twenty percent (20%) of $250 million works out to $50 million, for rough numbers.

We were told at the end of the 2025 legislative session that the state was too broke to come up with a mere $9 million to create a state inspector general’s office.

The very definition of false economy.