Governor Haley Barbour announced today the Division of Medicaid and the State Children’s Health Insurance program were among the best in the nation at keeping fraudulent payments low.
In Fiscal Year 2008, the statewide Medicaid Eligibility Error Rate was
0.0095 percent and the SCHIP Error Rate was 0.0333 percent, according to the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The programs had fewer instances of fraud than the national average, which saw a Medicaid Eligibility Error Rate of 0.105 percent and an SCHIP Error Rate of 0.147 percent.
“Requiring face-to-face meetings to check a recipient’s eligibility has reduced fraud and improved the efficiency of Mississippi’s Medicaid program,” Governor Barbour said. “Medicaid employees are working diligently to ensure that every Mississippian who needs health care is receiving health care.”
The low error rate means Mississippi does not owe a reimbursement to the federal government for Medicaid eligibility errors. Mississippi will pay only $3,045 for errors in the SCHIP program.
The Division of Medicaid began face-to-face meetings with beneficiaries in 2005 to help low-income Mississippians determine whether they are eligible for the health care programs. The meetings help keep incidents of fraud low by requiring beneficiaries disclose their income annually.
The Medicaid Eligibility Error Rate measures improper payments for services furnished to beneficiaries who were not eligible for Medicaid or SCHIP or for those who were eligible for the programs but not for the services they received under those programs. The Division of Medicaid is committed to work with the federal government and medical providers to ensure payments for Medicaid and SCHIP beneficiaries are accurate and educate providers on ways to avoid errors.
Governor Haley Barbour Press Release
3/5/9
Magnolia Tribune
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