WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (CBS12) — Gov. Ron DeSantis said Florida is expanding its effort to identify fraud, waste and abuse in Medicaid, announcing that the state has terminated more than 220 providers and cut projected spending on a key autism-related therapy program by nearly $1 billion.
DeSantis and Agency for Health Care Administration Secretary Shevaun Harris made the announcement Tuesday at the Health Care District of Palm Beach County in West Palm Beach.
Since January, DeSantis said AHCA has conducted more than 400 provider site visits as part of heightened oversight. The agency has also made more than 150 fraud referrals to the Florida Attorney General’s Office and placed more than 250 providers on payment restrictions or suspended their payments.
The more than 220 providers removed from Florida Medicaid accounted for over $230 million in billing in 2025, according to the administration.
“These actions are focused on bad actors who exploit the program, not legitimate providers delivering necessary care to Floridians,” DeSantis said.
State officials said they are using provider screening, data analytics, claims monitoring, background checks and site visits to identify suspicious billing. DeSantis said some providers billed Medicaid for services exceeding 24 hours in a day, while others submitted claims for services every day, including weekends and holidays, over extended periods.
The administration has placed particular focus on applied behavior analysis, or ABA, a therapy commonly used by children with autism and other developmental needs.
Gov. Ron DeSantis and AHCA Secretary Shevaun Harris announce expanded efforts to detect Medicaid fraud, waste and abuse Tuesday at the Health Care District of Palm Beach County in West Palm Beach. (WPEC)
Florida moved ABA services into managed care in 2025, a change the governor said was intended to provide more oversight. The program had been projected to cost $3.86 billion this year, but the state now projects annual spending of about $2.8 billion — nearly $1 billion less than earlier estimates.
Harris said Florida Medicaid paid about $6.57 billion for ABA services between 2023 and 2025, an amount she said was nearly four times higher than any other state Medicaid program. She said the state’s annual growth rate for ABA spending has fallen from a projected 30% to less than 10%.
“We want our funding going [to needed care], not in the pockets of crooks,” Harris said.
Harris said the agency has partnered with a company called SentiLink to help flag providers with potentially synthetic identities, questionable backgrounds or unclear ownership information. She said hundreds of providers have been flagged through the technology, which helps guide investigations.
She stressed that families who need ABA services should not lose access to care because their provider is suspended or terminated. Most recipients are enrolled in managed-care plans, Harris said, and those plans have care coordinators to help families find replacement providers.
Parents experiencing trouble finding a provider can contact AHCA or their managed-care plan for assistance, she said. Harris said Florida has more than 60,000 registered behavior technicians serving about 40,000 children.
DeSantis also said state officials are examining education-related programs for potential fraud, including autism-related education services and school-choice programs.
During the question-and-answer portion of the event, DeSantis defended his criticism of the Palm Beach County Republican Party for including suspended Palm Beach County Clerk Mike Caruso in a voter guide.
Caruso, who faces child sexual abuse charges, is presumed innocent, DeSantis said. But the governor said he believed the party should not endorse a candidate who had been suspended from office amid “very serious potential charges.”
“I think they made a mistake to do that,” DeSantis said.
See also: DeSantis slams Palm Beach GOP endorsement of suspended Clerk Mike Caruso