Minnesota autism centers under FBI investigation after explosive growth

Autism affects one in every 34 young Minnesotans — and a growing need has led to rapid growth in autism treatment centers and state spending.

The near-exponential expansion caught the eye of the FBI and the Minnesota Reformer’s Deena Winter. Winter says the investigation is preliminary and details are scarce, but there is talk of possible fraud.

Winter said she “found that the program has really exploded from about 700 percent over the past five years in terms of the number of providers, and then the amount paid, though, to those providers exploded 3,000 percent over the same time period,” Winter told Cathy Wurzer on Morning Edition Wednesday. “It just sort of brings back memories for me of the Feeding Our Future situation, which I just covered that trial. And just the explosive growth in numbers is always a red flag.”

Read Winter’s full report and listen to the conversation by clicking on the player above.

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