La. health department hires inspector general
Louisiana DHH hires inspector general after questions raised about awarding Medicaid contract
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) -- Louisiana's Department of Health and Hospitals has hired a new inspector general to review spending and fight fraud.
The hiring of William Root, announced Wednesday, comes after Gov. Bobby Jindal's administration canceled a nearly $200 million Medicaid contract whose award is being investigated by state and federal officials.
Root will not be involved in those investigations, according to DHH.
Root will work as both inspector general and chief compliance officer at DHH, overseeing audit efforts, tracking the appropriateness of Medicaid spending and identifying potential fraud and abuse. He will be paid $93,000 a year.
He has worked in a similar role for the federal government. Most recently, he was the assistant special agent in charge of the Office of Investigations for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
