DHS Officials Respond To Medicaid Audit Findings

Arkansas Department of Human Services officials said that $1.3 million in Medicaid services were provided despite questions raised in an audit report presented Friday (May 10) to the Legislative Joint Auditing committee.

Rob Moritz with our content partner, the Arkansas News Bureau, reports:

State Medicaid Director Andy Allison said providers across the state do the work of providing the the care under the program and they are required to document everything.

“We have tens of thousands of providers that serve the program,” he said. “We have millions and millions of claims that come in and each one of those claims for reimbursement could include data which draws from thousands of procedure and service codes.”

Tommy Carlisle, chief financial officer of DHS’ Arkansas Division of Medical Services, said the department was not disputing the audit’s findings that documentation might have been inadequate.

“We are disputing that a lack of documentation, for instance not signing the title to one document out of hundreds or thousands, would be a reason to question that that service was legitimately provided to a beneficiary, Carlisle said.

You can read the full report here.