PHOENIX – Attorney General Kris Mayes today announced that for the second time in five years, the Arizona Attorney General’s Office has received the Inspector General’s Award for Fighting Fraud, Waste, and Abuse from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Arizona’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU) was the only unit nationwide selected for this honor in 2025, chosen from among 53 state and territorial programs.
“I am incredibly proud of the work done by the dedicated team of professionals that make up the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit in my office,” said Attorney General Mayes. “Their efforts to hold bad actors accountable and recover taxpayer dollars exemplify the best of public service. Because of their tireless work, Arizona is nationally recognized as a leader in uprooting fraud, waste and abuse. Its proof that investing resources in agencies like the Attorney General’s Office delivers real results for taxpayers.”
The award, presented June 12, 2025 at HHS’s annual event in Washington, D.C., (pictured below) recognized the Arizona MFCU for a standout year that included 91 indictments, 41 convictions, and more than $74 million in recoveries. The Unit’s cases spanned 44 provider types and included significant prosecutions involving drug diversion and patient abuse.
In FY 2024, Arizona’s MFCU conducted 14 joint investigations with HHS’s Office of Inspector General (OIG), including a multiyear task force effort targeting fraud in the behavioral health industry. That operation alone resulted in dozens of convictions, over $140 million in recoveries, and the forfeiture of vehicles, real estate, and other assets. Other joint cases led to convictions of an ophthalmologist performing unnecessary surgeries, a state employee committing benefits fraud, and a sober living operator running a fraudulent billing scheme.
The Unit also works closely with federal partners such as the FBI, DEA, and U.S. Attorney’s Office. One MFCU investigator is embedded with the DEA’s Prescription Drug Diversion Task Force in Phoenix, which has increased drug-related case referrals.
The Arizona MFCU receives 75% of its funding from a $5.1 million HHS grant, with the remaining 25%—$1.7 million—provided by the State of Arizona. The Unit previously received this prestigious national award in 2020.
