The New Mexico Foundation for Open Government has filed a lawsuit seeking public disclosure of an audit that identified potential overbillings and fraud by providers of mental health and substance abuse services.
The Human Services Department has frozen payments to more than a dozen behavioral health providers because of the fraud allegations.
The lawsuit in state District Court in Santa Fe seeks to force the department and attorney general's office to release an unredacted copy of the audit or justify why it shouldn't be disclosed under the Inspection of Public Records Act.
The attorney general's office contends public disclosure of the audit could jeopardize its investigation of the fraud allegations.
The Las Cruces Sun-News and New Mexico in Depth filed a lawsuit last month to require disclosure of the audit.
