Ohio
Ohio governor announces new Medicaid fraud prevention initiatives
COLUMBUS — Ohio Governor Mike DeWine announced Wednesday that he is implementing several new fraud prevention initiatives to strengthen and build-upon long-standing efforts to fight fraud, waste, and abuse in the Ohio Medicaid system.
“Ohio has long been a national leader in fighting Medicaid fraud. Ohio has one of the best Medicaid Fraud Control units in the country, and, in 2018, Ohio became the first state to implement Electronic Visit Verification in home health care,” DeWine said.
“Today, we are ready to begin several new initiatives long in development that will enhance this nation-leading work and further protect taxpayer funds from those trying to defraud the State.
“I thank the Trump Administration for their partnership and collaboration that is allowing us to proceed with these reforms much faster than previously possible.”
New initiatives
DeWine said he is directing the Ohio Department of Medicaid to implement the following:
- Statewide New Provider Moratorium. The Ohio Department of Medicaid will today ask the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) so Ohio may implement a six-month moratorium on new home-healthcare and hospice businesses being able to become Medicaid providers. This will allow Ohio Medicaid to stop enrollment of new providers and assess existing providers to help remove those at high risk for having committed fraud.
- Immediate Payment Suspension to High-Risk Providers. Ohio Medicaid will today begin a policy of immediately removing and suspending payment to providers whose billing practices show “red flags” that indicate a high probability of fraud. Ohio Medicaid already has a robust payment suspension protocol that is currently used to stop payments to questionable providers. In January, Ohio Medicaid began the process of implementing new data analytics tools to help identify billing data anomalies that could better identify fraud. To date, this process has identified 87 providers who will be subject to further review and potential payment suspension.
- Executive Order for Emergency Rules. The Governor will be issuing an Executive Order that will allow the Ohio Department of Medicaid to implement emergency rules to require more frequent revalidation of providers being identified as higher-risk for committing fraud. Governor DeWine sent a letter to CMS on May 1 committing Ohio to partnering with the Trump Administration and using a more stringent revalidation process to better prevent fraud.
- Mandatory GPS Requirement for Electronic Visit Verification. Ohio Medicaid will file rules to require GPS for all providers using Electronic Visit Verification (EVV). Since March 2025, Ohio Medicaid has begun phasing in EVV as a mandatory requirement for home healthcare provider payment. In December, DeWine authorized Ohio Medicaid to begin the information technology investments needed to make GPS mandatory for EVV. Ohio Medicaid now ready to make this rule change to implement the requirement. Ohio Medicaid has worked collaboratively with Ohio Auditor Keith Faber on identifying solutions to issues identified in the Auditor’s audits of Ohio Medicaid, and this new rule will implement a key recommendation of the audits.
- Mandatory EVV for Live-In Caregivers. Ohio Medicaid will begin the rulemaking process to require live-in caregivers to use EVV during home healthcare and as a requirement for payment. Currently, family and live-in caregivers are exempt from this requirement.
Ohio’s work in prosecuting Medicaid fraud
Ohio has been a national leader in catching and prosecuting Medicaid fraud thanks to a strong partnership between Ohio Medicaid and the Ohio Attorney General’s Office and its Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, the governor said.
Since the beginning of 2023, Ohio has secured 444 Medicaid fraud indictments, 481 convictions, and 146 civil settlements and judgments resulting in $78.4 million in recovered taxpayer fund.
Under Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, the unit received a U.S. Office of the Inspector General’s Award for Excellence in Fighting Fraud, Waste, and Abuse in 2022, and it ranked #1 in the nation for number of convictions secured in 2015 under then-Attorney General Mike DeWine.
Utilizing home healthcare to protect taxpayer dollars
Home and community-based care programs have been a core component of Medicaid services for decades since they were initiated under Ronald Reagan’s Administration.
Ohio is one of 47 states and the District of Columbia that provides such care under a waiver granted by CMS.
Ohio’s home and community-based care programs are grounded in data showing that legitimate in-home care is typically safer for individuals and significantly more affordable for taxpayers.
In 2024, Ohio saved more than $600 million in taxpayer funds that would have been expended had patients receiving home healthcare been diverted to skilled nursing or other residential care services, saving several billion dollars over the course of the DeWine Administration.
On average, home health care costs half as much as placement in a nursing facility.
Ensuring access to appropriate home-based care is both a responsible use of public resources and a critical part of meeting the needs of our most vulnerable Ohioans who otherwise would require placement in higher-cost nursing facilities.
Additional efforts to fight fraud, waste & abuse
Providing care in a home setting requires a robust set of controls to detect and prevent fraud.
Ohio Medicaid has been proactively evaluating all program integrity initiatives to ensure taxpayer dollars are well spent and that quality care is being provided.
The governor’s office said the department has been engaged in a thorough review of programs and policies to evaluate any risks to the integrity of the program, identify potential gaps that could be exploited, and explore opportunities to leverage new and emerging AI and data analytic tools to stay one step ahead of anyone looking to exploit the system.
As part of that work, since the start of 2026, the Department has initiated new prior authorization requirements for high-risk services to ensure medical necessity.
Ohio Medicaid launched efforts to build new data analytic capabilities to identify unique outliers in billing patterns, better assess vulnerable business ownership structures, and improve coordination of fraud fighting efforts.
These efforts are designed to improve the early detection of potential fraud and identify future areas of inherent program risk.
To confirm that billed services are actually rendered, Ohio Medicaid relies on an extensive set of safeguards, including:
- Comprehensive provider screening and continuous compliance monitoring.
- Mandatory electronic visit verification capturing date, time, and service location.
- Advanced analytics that flag unusual billing patterns or service trends.
- Routine and targeted audits performed by program integrity staff.
- Coordination with state and federal partners when concerns arise.
Matt Hardigree
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Ohio State enters the 2026 season as the reigning national champion’s chief rival for preseason hype — ranked No. 1 in ESPN’s initial Football Power Index and the trendy pick in several outlets’ way-too-early bracket projections. But before any of that matters, the Buckeyes have to get through a schedule that their own athletic department has openly called one of the toughest in the country. The question worth asking isn’t whether Ohio State is talented enough to win a title. It’s whether this slate is rugged enough that even a very good Buckeyes team could stumble to 9-3 — and if it does, whether that’s still good enough for the College Football Playoff.
By the school’s own count, nine of the Buckeyes’ 12 regular-season opponents either reached the CFP or played in a bowl game in 2025, and seven of them won at least nine games that season. Add up the 2025 records of Ohio State’s nine Big Ten opponents and you get a combined winning percentage north of .600 — a brutal number for a conference slate.
A few things stand out immediately:
Five true road games, including trips to two teams that made the 2025 CFP semifinals. The season opens with a Week 2 rematch at Texas, closing out the home-and-home series after Ohio State’s narrow 14-7 win in Columbus last year, followed later by a trip to Indiana on October 17th, the reigning national champion, and a first visit to USC since 2008 on October 31st. The Buckeyes will also make their first trip to Iowa’s Kinnick Stadium since 2017. Road trips to Texas, Iowa, Indiana, USC and Nebraska leave almost no margin for error away from the Horseshoe.
A CFP semifinalist at home, too. Oregon comes to Columbus on November 7th. Only two Big Ten teams have posted winning records against Ohio State this decade — Michigan and Oregon — and the Buckeyes will host both within the final four weeks of the regular season.
The Michigan game closes the regular season again, on Nov. 28, with a trip to Indiana and a home date with Oregon both looming in the weeks before it. A closing stretch of Indiana (road), Oregon (home) and Michigan (home), separated only by Northwestern and Nebraska, is about as demanding a finish as any team in the country will face.
Why 9-3 Is a Real Possibility, Not a Doomsday Scenario
Ohio State’s roster is loaded. Quarterback Julian Sayin returns after a Heisman-finalist redshirt freshman campaign, and Jeremiah Smith — already the most productive receiver in program history through two seasons — is back for one more year in Columbus. Ohio State ranks among the national leaders in returning offensive production, bringing back roughly seven in ten snaps’ worth of output from a year ago.
But the defense that carried Ohio State to the 2024 national title and a Big Ten title game appearance in 2025 was gutted by the NFL Draft. The Buckeyes had four players go in the first 11 picks of the 2026 draft, three of them defenders — receiver Carnell Tate plus linebackers Arvell Reese and Sonny Styles, and safety Caleb Downs. As a result, the defense returns only about half of last season’s production, a figure that ranks in the bottom third nationally. That’s a real question mark heading into a schedule with almost no easy weeks after October.
There’s also a late-season track record worth noting. Through 12 games in 2025, Ohio State looked nearly unbeatable, winning everything but the Texas opener by an average score of roughly 39-8. But when it came time to close, the offense stalled — the Buckeyes managed a combined 24 points in losses to Indiana in the Big Ten title game and Miami in the CFP quarterfinals, both defeats built around an overly conservative approach late in games. If a similarly cautious style resurfaces against this year’s closing gauntlet of Indiana, Oregon and Michigan, three losses in that stretch alone isn’t far-fetched.
Put it together — a true road loss at Texas, Indiana or USC, a slip-up somewhere in the Oregon-Michigan stretch, maybe an upset bid from Iowa or Nebraska — and 9-3 isn’t a pessimistic outcome. It’s a very plausible one for a team replacing this much defensive production while playing this schedule.
So Would 9-3 Be Enough for the Playoff?
Here’s where the format matters as much as the record. The CFP is staying at 12 teams in 2026, but the automatic-qualifier rules changed after realignment talks between the Big Ten and SEC broke down without a deal on expansion. Each Power Four conference champion — from the ACC, Big 12, Big Ten and SEC — is now guaranteed a spot regardless of final ranking. The highest-ranked Group of Six team also earns an automatic bid, and Notre Dame can qualify as an independent if it finishes in the top 12. Everyone else fills out the field as at-large selections, seeded purely by the committee’s final rankings, with only the top four teams overall earning first-round byes.
That structure gives a 9-3 Ohio State two realistic paths in:
Path 1: Win the Big Ten. If the Buckeyes go 9-3 but that includes a Big Ten Championship Game win, they’re in automatically — no ranking required, no committee debate. Given the schedule, a 9-3 team that beats Indiana, Oregon and/or Michigan somewhere along the way to Lucas Oil Stadium and wins there would carry more than enough quality wins to make that plausible.
Path 2: An at-large bid on the strength of schedule. If Ohio State doesn’t reach the title game, a 9-3 at-large case becomes a resume argument — and here the Buckeyes’ brutal slate actually works in their favor. A 9-3 record built on wins over the likes of Texas, Indiana, USC, Oregon or Michigan, with all three losses coming against genuinely strong opponents, is a very different case than a 9-3 team that padded its record against a soft schedule and lost to mediocre teams. The selection committee has rewarded strength of schedule and a “best three losses” argument over a cleaner record built on a weaker slate; in 2025, an 8-5 Duke team with no marquee wins was left out entirely, while 10-3 Alabama got in on the strength of who they played and beat.
The math gets tighter, though, if other Big Ten contenders also finish with strong resumes. Analysts already project this could be a three-bid year for the conference, with Oregon, Ohio State and Indiana viewed as the league’s strongest playoff bets and several others given outside chances. If Indiana, Oregon and Ohio State all finish somewhere in the 9-3 to 11-1 range, seeding — and head-to-head results — will matter enormously. An Ohio State team that lost directly to one of its direct competitors could find itself squeezed out if the at-large math gets crowded near the bottom of the field.
The Bottom Line
Ohio State’s 2026 schedule is genuinely one of the hardest in the country — five true road games, two CFP semifinalists on the slate, and a closing stretch of Indiana-Oregon-Michigan that would stress-test any roster, let alone one replacing three defensive first-round picks. A 9-3 finish wouldn’t reflect a team underachieving; it would reflect a team that played one of the nation’s toughest schedules and lost a few close ones to elite competition.
Under the current 12-team format, that record should still be good enough for the Playoff in most realistic scenarios — either by winning the Big Ten outright, which comes with an automatic bid regardless of ranking, or by leaning on strength of schedule to win the at-large argument. The one situation where it gets dicey is if Ohio State’s three losses include head-to-head defeats to the same Big Ten teams — Indiana, Oregon — it’s competing against for playoff positioning, and the conference ends up sending three or four teams that all finish with similar records. In that crowded scenario, being 9-3 with the wrong losses could matter more than being 9-3 at all.
For a program that’s made the field in three of the first three years of the expanded Playoff, the safer bet is still that 9-3 gets Ohio State in. But this schedule means the Buckeyes will have to earn every bit of that resume.
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YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) – A downtown Youngstown business is expanding.
Yosteria celebrated the grand opening of its new space–the enoteca at Yosteria.
The owners modeled the space after a traditional wine bar in Italy, which is known as an “enoteca.”
The space located in the backyard of the property features an expanded wine list–their own in-house made wine and full bar options.
The owners say the expansion helps bring their original vision to life, showcasing a wide variety of Italian cuisine.
“We have strong southern Italian roots here,” co-owner Alex Zordich said. “We have a lot of southern Italian food, but we also have a lot of central northern. It’s fine introducing those fruits even to the Southern Italians here. So we’re excited about the wine aspect of that to just continue to educate.”
“There are so many Indigenous grapes in Italy, hundreds and hundreds, and we want to show you the different expressions of wine and how they, you know, they pair with food and just all the different wines that Italy has to offer,” co-owner Frank Tuscano added.
The owners say if you would like to check the new space out, reservations are highly recommended.
You can make those over on their website or by calling the restaurant.
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