Panel recommends additional Medicaid oversight - 2005-11-23 - Wichita Business Journal

Jerry Siebenmark

A special Kansas legislative panel says the state should establish an independent inspector general for Medicaid, Kansas’ health insurance program for low-income citizens.

“When you have a program that has grown as quickly and is as large as Medicaid, there is every reason to expect that a substantial amount of money is wasted on false claims and erroneous payments,” says Senate Majority Leader Derek Schmidt, R-Independence, in a statement. “Kansas spends $2.2 billion each year on Medicaid payments, so even a very low error rate can misuse a large amount of taxpayer funds.”

A 2000 review of the Medicaid program estimated erroneous payments in the state could be as high as 25 percent. The rate of fraudulent payments in Medicaid program nationally may be as high as 10 percent, according to a 2002 report by the Legislative Division of Post Audit.