Minnesota Revalidates 2,000 Medicaid Providers, Disenrolls Over 3,000 High-Risk or Inactive Ones to Meet Federal Rules

Minnesota has terminated the billing privileges of thousands of Medicaid providers flagged as high risk for fraud after the Trump administration threatened to withhold $2 billion in Medicaid payments over mismanagement concerns. S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services required the cleanup of Minnesota’s Medicaid enrollment records as part of a corrective action plan to restore federal confidence in the state’s oversight.

State oversight officials had until the end of May to examine nearly 5,600 service providers identified as susceptible to fraud. The Minnesota Department of Human Services released the results of its high-risk provider review late in the week of June 1-7 2026. Of the high-risk providers audited, Minnesota DHS revalidated about 2,000 enrollees, or 37 percent.

Sixty-one percent of the audited providers were disenrolled due to inaccurate or incomplete administrative paperwork, failed site visits, or owners failing background checks. Minnesota DHS removed an additional 111 providers because they had already stopped providing Medicaid services by the time of the review.

The revalidation process involved Minnesota-based Medicaid providers submitting basic documentation on ownership, licensing, and staffing.

Providers who feel that they were wrongly disenrolled can appeal the decision. Minnesota DHS said it will help eligible entities come into compliance with the heightened screening requirements over the coming months. Minnesota state Rep.

Kristin Robbins called the findings astonishing. “We don’t know if they’d gone out of business or simply stopped providing Medicaid services, but they were still listed as enrolled providers in the system,” Robbins said of the 111 now-disenrolled providers. Robbins is the Republican chairwoman of the state’s House Fraud Prevention and State Agency Oversight Policy Committee.

Robbins questioned what Minnesota DHS meant by stating that 111 were removed from review at this time because they are no longer providing a high-risk service. “It’s unclear. ” she said. Out of the 916 providers that failed their site verification visits, Robbins wondered whether those agencies actually had a location and how many were truly operational.

She said she reached out to Minnesota DHS officials for clarification on the revalidation data and received out-of-office messages stating they won’t be back until July. John Connolly is the new commissioner of Minnesota DHS. He was appointed by Gov.

Tim Walz in May and immediately took a monthlong leave of absence. Former commissioner Shireen Gandhi was demoted to deputy head of the department on the eve of her confirmation hearing and is serving as acting chief. “It’s rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

Nobody’s been fired,” Robbins said of the DHS leadership situation. The revalidation audit was a five-month endeavor that raced to meet the federal May 31 deadline.