Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) officials asserted that, prior to 2025, the department did not have authority to investigate allegations of kickbacks in the Early Intensive Developmental and Behavioral Intervention Program (EIDBI) program unless the allegation also included non-kickback conduct that met the definitions of fraud, theft, abuse, or error. We found, however, that DHS has long had legal authority to address allegations of kickbacks. We also identified a decades-old error in DHS’s administrative rules that may limit the department’s ability to suspend payments while investigating kickbacks.
