Missouri Medicaid Program Lacks Proper Oversight, Audit Finds

Main Category: Medicare / Medicaid / SCHIP
Article Date: 30 Apr 2009 - 6:00 PDT

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The Missouri Department of Social Services' Program Integrity Unit does not do enough to track and prevent wasteful spending by Medicaid providers and lacks the staff and necessary funding for prompt reviews, according to a state audit, the AP/St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports. The audit also cited the unit for not having a tracking process in place to see whether follow-up reviews of Medicaid providers are taking place.

In a written response to the audit, the unit noted that it has made requests for increased funding in order to hire more staff and implement a better tracking system. The audit highlighted an instance in 2004 in which the department approved and paid $669,000 over two years to a Medicaid provider that was on a federal disqualification list because of a fraud conviction (AP/St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 4/27).

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