Orange County will soon begin auditing pharmacies and health-care providers to root out waste, fraud and abuse in its $400 million-a-year Medicaid program.

The investigation has zeroed in on 25 businesses deemed most likely to have overbilled Medicaid, the national health insurance system for the poor. The county will start with two pharmacies and hopes to get to all 25 targets within two years.

The goal is to recover misspent money. Any spoils would ultimately be shared by the federal, state and county governments and the three firms hired to do the audits and related legal work.

Orange is one of 13 New York counties — plus New York City — that have agreed to audit Medicaid payments under the supervision of the state Office of the Medicaid Inspector General, formed in 2005 as part of a fraud crackdown.

Medicaid payments for more than 23,000 Orange County households last year cost $398.5 million in federal, state and county funds. The county’s share was $60.8 million — 11 percent of its total budget.

(Source: Recordonline.com)