Saratu Grace Ghartey is the Chief Program Accountability Officer for New York City’s Department of Social Services (DSS). DSS is the largest local social services agency in the country, employing over 17,000 people and serving approximately 3 million needy New Yorkers with an operating budget of $9.7 billion. DSS’S programs include Medicaid (public health insurance), Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, f/k/a food stamps), Temporary Cash Assistance (a/k/a welfare), HIV/AIDS support services, child support enforcement, and homeless services.
As Chief Program Accountability Officer, Ms. Ghartey has agency-wide responsibility for program integrity, compliance, investigations, audit and quality assurance. Specifically, she oversees the Investigation, Revenue and Enforcement Administration (IREA), the Office of Audit Services and Quality Assurance, and the Office of Compliance and Contract Monitoring (approximately 1,300 staff).
She started off as Ratings Advisory Intern for Merrill Lynch International where she conducted quantitative and qualitative research and analysis for various European industries, performed financial benchmarking and assisted with presentations to Standard & Poors and other rating agencies.
Ghartey began her career at Dept of Social Services/hra as the Assistant Deputy Commissioner over the Management Analysis, Policy and Data (MAPD) division, which conducts managerial and statistical analyses, documents and evaluates internal processes, and creates and maintains reporting data. Under Ms. Ghartey, MAPD added a Data Analytics unit charged with developing new data mining capabilities. Specifically, the unit utilizes program and administrative data to develop and maintain predictive fraud algorithms and indicators in order to identify new investigative initiatives and establish meaningful case filters.
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She was also formerly the Deputy Commissioner, Investigation, Revenue & Enforcement Administration (DSS/HRA) and after only one year at the agency, Ms. Ghartey was promoted to Deputy Commissioner for IREA Operations. She was given direct operational responsibility for two investigative areas within the Investigation, Revenue and Enforcement Administration (IREA) (the Bureau of Fraud Investigations (BFI) and the Bureau of Eligibility Verification (BEV) (1100 investigators total), as well as the Office of Revenue, which is the collections arm of the agency. She also had oversight of the Management Analysis, Policy and Data division. In this role Ms. Ghartey managed the day-to-day operations, provided strategic planning and oversight, spearheaded cross-agency projects, managed staffing budgets, etc.
In the past, she was also the Assistant Medicaid Inspector General, NYS Office of Medicaid Inspector General, where she managed the Division of Medicaid Investigation’s downstate operations, which includes supervision of over 35 healthcare fraud investigators and administrative staff. She led the agencywide multi-disciplinary task force on home healthcare. As part of NYS Medicaid Redesign Team proposals, she designed and implemented State-wide education initiative that ultimately saved New York over $138 million.
Her previous position within the Agency was, Head of Bureau of Research and Evaluations, which is responsible for conducting a comprehensive set of in-depth evaluations of the New York State Medicaid program’s operations and processes in order to identify vulnerabilities, promote efficiency and effectiveness, and prevent and detect fraud, waste and abuse.
While at WILMER HALE, she was Senior Litigation Associate, and represented clients in a wide variety of complex litigation matters before the SEC, the DOJ, and in state and federal courts. These matters included business contract disputes, multi-litigation securities fraud, accounting fraud, trading violations, and white-collar crime. She conducted investigations, developed case theories and defense strategies. Saratu researched and drafted legal briefs, motions and memoranda. She prepared experts and witnesses for trial and depositions and also conducted and coordinated discovery.
Ms. Ghartey came to DSS from the New York State Office of the Medicaid Inspector General (OMIG), where she was first the Assistant Medicaid Inspector General. Ghartey is a graduate of the Harvard Law School, and of Boston University, where she majored in Economics. Ms. Ghartey was raised in Jos, Nigeria and now lives in Brooklyn, New York City, with her husband and son.
