The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (“SNAP” or “food stamps”) is a developing area for IREA’s investigations because there are more stringent guards on New York City’s ability to access data sources. IREA’s investigators extensively utilize data matches to identify fraud and abuse in the SNAP system and have returned more than $1 million in 2011 with 76% of cases under investigation having uncovered fraud, with the remaining 24% of cases deemed to not involve fraud.
Key Areas:
- Voluntary Recovery Efforts: when the agency receives a repayment resulting from an investigation that did not require legal action—are
- Up over 600% from 2007
- Quarters 1 & 2 2012: 74 voluntary recoveries,
- Total for 2011: 81 voluntary recoveries.
- Adding PIN Restrictions (restricting EBT usage) to IREA’s List of Outcomes:
- Medicaid Program: a recipient can be restricted to one doctor and one pharmacy if found to be doctor shopping.
- 2011 PIN Restriction Referrals: 172 cases, saving valuable dollars
SNAP Historical Data 2011 & 2012:
| June 2012 | Quarter 1
2012 | Quarter 2
2012 | Year-to-Date
2012 | Year-to-Date
2011 |
| Investigations Completed | 532 | 3,100 | 2,039 | 5,139 | 5,716 |
| Positive Dispositions | 380 | 2,477 | 1,162 | 3,639 | 4,440 |
| Negative Dispositions | 143 | 623 | 877 | 1,500 | 1,275 |
| Cost Savings | $811,164 | $5,270,712 | $2,406,810 | $6,866,358 | $10,274,874 |
SNAP Program Integrity Resources:
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)