New York's inspector general for Medicaid, the state's largest annual expenditure, says he's leaving.
In a message to staff, James Cox says they've done the job he set out to do, establishing 22 audit protocols that led to record recoveries, establishing solid standards and a productive relationship with medical providers.
The office reported $1.73 billion in recoveries of improper expenses for health care for low-income New Yorkers in 2011-2013, up 34 percent from the prior three years.
That included a record $879 million last year, when the office removed 702 providers from the nearly $60 billion federally and state-funded program.
Cox, coming from U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, joined the Cuomo administration in 2011.
He says First Deputy Thomas Meyer will be acting inspector general.
