Minnesota has terminated the billing privileges of thousands of Medicaid providers flagged as “high risk” for fraud after the Trump administration threatened to withhold $2 billion in Medicaid payments flowing to the state over mismanagement concerns.

In order to release the funds, the cleanup of Minnesota’s Medicaid enrollment records was required by the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services as part of a corrective action plan meant to restore federal confidence in the state’s oversight of the safety net system. According to federal and state investigations, Minnesota allowed fraudsters to steal billions of dollars from its Medicaid-funded healthcare programs for years through sophisticated billing schemes.