Auditor’s report depicts disarray in R.I. social service programs
Other findings: Duplicate payments for medical services. A failure to update the income-eligibility of thousands of cash-assistance recipients. A failure to provide "correct cost-sharing amounts" for parents with children in taxpayer-subsidized child-care, resulting in the need for the state to make "supplemental payments." Thousands of backlogged applications for food stamps and other benefits, including entry into nursing homes.
The report by the
The audit also spells out the continuing risk that the federal government will levy fines -- or seek to recoup -- some of the
The ramifications include the "potential disallowance of certain system development costs ... sanctions imposed by federal grantor agencies for noncompliance with specific program requirements ... and requests for return of federal funds for benefits provided to ineligible individuals," the report warned.
"It is important to keep in mind that this report reflects a finite time period, ending in June of last year," said
"We've made considerable progress since then in addressing many of the findings ... [and] the state continues to withhold payment from Deloitte until [the computer system] is fixed and meeting performance targets," she said.
State Medicaid Director
While some of the problems may no longer be as severe, the
The state's Human Services Director
She said her agency has already fixed -- or is "on a runway" -- to fixing other problems. (The next big computer "fix" is scheduled for May 19.)
Among the "significant" problems cited in the auditor general's report:
The state's Medicaid payment system reported 16,000 more recipients than listed in the flawed eligibility-verification system that began its life as "UHIP" (short for:
This compromised the state's ability to make sure "payments are only made on behalf of eligible individuals," the audit report said, and resulted in duplicate payments to one or more of the three managed-care organizations under contract to tend to 250,000 or so people in the state's Medicaid population: the
(Tigue said the discrepancy between the state's payment system and its income-verification system has dropped from 16,000 to 7,400. It was not clear how many of those people -- no longer in the count -- were ineligible for the benefits they received, but Tigue acknowledged there were some.)
Medicaid: "In many instances, particularly for Medicaid applicants requiring long-term care services and supports, the State is not complying with timely determination of Medicaid eligibility requirements ... [resulting] in significant delays in determining eligibility," the report said. This, in turn, necessitated the state "advancing"' money to the nursing homes and other long-term care service providers.
The state advanced
Subsidized child-care: The computer system was not, on a consistent basis, calculating the correct "cost-sharing amounts" for parents with children in child-care. (
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families: The failure to regularly update recipient "work plans" meant the state was not complying with "income eligibility and verification" for this cash-assistance program.
On Thursday, the
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