Surprised? NY Losing Money in Medicaid Billing
$1.8 million in overpayments discovered
Wednesday, Dec 10, 2008 | Updated 1:33 PM EDT
An audit finds a significant amount of overpayments in the state's medicaid sytem -- due in large part to glitches in the e-billing system.
New York Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli says the state has lost millions of dollars due to flawed use of the state's own Medicaid billing computer program.
In an audit released Wednesday, DiNapoli says he's found $1.8 million in overpayments to health care providers -- not much compared to the multibillion dollar state deficit.
But DiNapoli says the problem demonstrates a systemic lack of oversight that costs taxpayers money in the long run.
In many instances, providers either double-billed for services or didn't accurately report payment information on their claims. Both audits found that eMedNY, the computer system used to track billing errors, wasn't always used properly.
Health officials say they'll comply with recommendations.
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