COLUMBUS, Ohio — Governor Mike DeWine has signed Senate Bill 315 into law, enacting a sweeping, bipartisan overhaul of Ohio’s public assistance security measures.
The legislation, jointly sponsored by State Senators Tim Schaffer (R-Lancaster) and Hearcel Craig (D-Columbus), targets systemic vulnerabilities within both the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and the state’s Medicaid system to prevent taxpayer dollars from being intercepted by criminals.
EBT Card Security Upgrade
Originally introduced to address the widespread skimming and theft of food assistance benefits, Senate Bill 315 mandates a major technology upgrade for SNAP Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cards.
The law requires the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS) to transition to secure, chip-enabled technology for all newly issued and replacement EBT cards. The state has allocated $3 million to fund the infrastructure overhaul.
“The original goal of this legislation was to improve the security of SNAP EBT food cards and reduce fraud, so that benefits are used by families in crisis, not manipulated and stolen by criminals,” Senator Schaffer stated.
Aggressive Reforms Targeting Medicaid Fraud
While initially focused on food assistance, the bill expanded significantly during the legislative process to integrate aggressive anti-fraud guardrails into Ohio’s Medicaid program—the state’s single largest budgetary expense.
“We should be doing all we can to protect the integrity of this program for Ohioans in need while aggressively fighting back against fraud that has been plaguing the system for years,” Schaffer said.
To safeguard the multi-billion dollar program, Senate Bill 315 establishes the following mandates:
- Stricter Oversight: Requires the Ohio Department of Medicaid (ODM) to mandate Electronic Visit Verification (EVV) for all in-home care services to ensure accurate billing.
- Enhanced Investigation Power: Creates a standardized onboarding process for healthcare providers and expands the authority of the State Auditor and Attorney General to investigate fraud.
- Immediate Defunding: Orders the ODM to immediately suspend payments to any provider facing a “credible allegation of fraud” flagged by the Auditor or Attorney General.
- Clawback Mandates: Forces the ODM to aggressively recover 100% of overpayments identified during provider audits.
- Prior Authorizations: Implements mandatory prior approval requirements for personal care and all therapeutic behavioral services under Medicaid.
- Tougher Legal Penalties: Creates new felony offenses, increases criminal fines for bad actors, and expands legal protections for whistleblowers who expose fraud.
- Managed Care Responsibility: Mandates that Medicaid Managed Care Organizations (MCOs) instantly report credible fraud and authorizes them to independently suspend or deny suspect payments.
Combating Organized Crime
Lawmakers emphasize that public assistance fraud is frequently linked to broader criminal enterprises, noting that stolen benefits are routinely laundered or traded on the black market.
“It is imperative to protect these benefits and taxpayer dollars from criminal gangs and organized crime operations looking to prey on Ohio’s most vulnerable citizens and use these benefits for illegal drugs and other crimes,” Schaffer warned. “While this bill makes much needed reforms to SNAP and Medicaid, our work to stop public assistance fraud, waste, and abuse is far from over.”
Following the Governor’s signature, Senate Bill 315 is officially slated to go into effect later this year.
