CHARLESTON — West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey wants lawmakers to turn over the state’s Medicaid Fraud Unit to his office.

The Senate Finance Committee heard from Morrisey during his office’s annual budget presentation Monday afternoon. The office has requested a budget of $4.9 million, which is the same as the office received in fiscal year 2019.

The only additional request the Attorney General’s Office is making is for the transfer of the Medicaid Fraud Unit from the state Department of Health and Human Resources.

“We think our expertise going after fraud would be very beneficial in the Medicaid fraud arena,” Morrisey said. “We would ask this committee to consider transferring that jurisdiction over.”

According to Morrisey, 43 other states operate their fraud units out of their attorney general’s office. Morrisey said transferring the fraud unit would not cost his office additional money and they would run the unit at 90 percent of the state’s current funding.

“We’ve always argued we could save more resources, but structurally it would help tremendously if you could put another entity in the review process in the pursuit of Medicaid fraud as opposed to effectively having the same entity or an entity that reports to the same person in that position,” he said.

The Attorney General’s Office already participates in the cooperative disability unit along with the Social Security Administration and the state’s Disability Determination Section. The unit has saved the state $13 million through Social Security benefit fraud detection since 2015.

“When you look at the disability costs we’ve been able to save…that’s obviously been a big plus and I think it amplifies the type of work the office does,” Morrisey said. “We really are one of the principal offices in this state that goes after fraud.”

The Government Accountability Office estimates that in 2015 alone, improper Medicaid payments cost a total of almost $29 billion.

The Attorney General’s Office wouldn’t be able to charge anyone or any company criminally, but it would be able to take action in civil court.

“West Virginia has never really been at the top of its game,” Morrisey said.

“I think there are more things we can do in terms of the type of work that would allow more Medicaid dollars to flow back to our state.”

According to Morrisey, the Attorney General’s Office has returned more than $40 million back to the state’s general revenue fund and has worked to ensure any damages awarded through civil cases brought by the Consumer Protection Division make it back to the state.