OLA Special Review — DHS OIG Authority to Investigate Kickbacks (EIDBI Investigations) (January 2026)

Source: Office of the Legislative Auditor, Minnesota · Document date: 2026-01-15 · Type: Audit Report

OLA Special Review documenting that the DHS Office of Inspector General had erroneously claimed for decades that it lacked authority to investigate kickbacks in the Early Intensive Developmental and Behavioral Intervention (EIDBI) autism-therapy program. Establishes that this was a self-imposed limitation, not a legal one.

Significance: Foundational audit document for the kickback-enforcement-failure and MCO-data-gap-termination investigations. Directly contradicts DHS's standing position that EIDBI kickback investigation was outside its remit, exposing a multi-decade enforcement gap that allowed kickback schemes to operate unchallenged.

Tags: OLA, special review, EIDBI, kickbacks, DHS OIG, autism therapy, legislative auditor