Training Violations, Retaliation, and Medicaid Oversight: Why OMIG Deserves to Know

Over the past several weeks, I’ve shared portions of my experience as a Registered Nurse Instructor employed by a Medicaid-funded agency in Western New York. What began as excitement to train the next generation of personal care aides quickly became a firsthand lesson in how systems fail when accountability is absent.

At one point, I was instructed to use an inappropriate, sexualized object in place of a proper catheter training tool — without warning, and despite my clear discomfort and objections. I documented this. I spoke up. The response was silence, followed by subtle retaliation, then more direct targeting. I stayed. I taught. I did my job — and I told the truth, repeatedly.

But here’s the part that’s not just unethical —and it may be illegal.

I was pressured to graduate students who had no available work hours, pushing them through training programs while knowing that their path into the workforce was a dead end. Worse, I was expected to sign off on these certifications.

This matters because the agency in question is funded, in large part, by Medicaid.

That’s why I’ll be notifying the New York State Office of the Medicaid Inspector General (OMIG) of what happened — including how concerns were ignored and how retaliation followed. OMIG exists for exactly this reason: to investigate Medicaid fraud, waste, and abuse — including questionable training practices and the misuse of taxpayer dollars. And if those dollars were used to fund falsified, unsafe, or retaliatory operations, they deserve to know.

This isn’t just about me. It’s about every student I taught, every patient those aides may serve, and every future nurse or caregiver who deserves a training environment built on integrity — not silence, shortcuts, or fear.

When the proper agencies are informed, it’s no longer just a complaint. It’s an investigation.

-- K