The federal government is demanding that Colorado repay $8 million in Medicaid funds due to inaccurate payments. A recent federal audit found that Colorado failed to follow state and federal requirements for certain payments for personal care services.

Audit Findings

The audit, conducted by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General, found discrepancies in claims for care, including some that exceeded 24 hours a day. The audit also found that Colorado’s Electronic Visit Verification system did not always confirm that providers were collecting required information.

The Colorado Department of Healthcare Policy and Financing, which administers Medicaid payments, disagrees with most of the audit’s findings, saying that the audit only described minor paperwork issues and did not demonstrate that payments were made for unauthorized or unrendered services.

Response from Colorado

Despite the disagreement, the department is committed to working with federal partners to address the discrepancies. The department’s public information officer, Marc Williams, pointed to a press release that addresses the audit and claims that the state was treated differently than others.

The Office of Inspector General responded, saying that similar findings were made in an audit of Kansas and that the methodology used in the audit was statistically valid and reasonably conservative.

Original reporting: KTBS 3 (Shreveport) — read the source article.