Medicaid fraud cases total $52 million in 2008

RALEIGH -- State officials say Medicaid fraud cases in North Carolina totaled more than $52 million in 2008. Attorney General Roy Cooper said Tuesday that investigators had won 17 criminal convictions and 15 civil settlements in the federal fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, 2008. The state recently won $15.5 million from a national settlement with pharmaceutical manufacturer Cephalon, Inc. Some of the money will be divided between public school funding and the state's Medicaid program while the rest is used to reimburse federal Medicaid costs. Cooper said more than $300 million in fraud has been recovered over the last seven years. (Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)