Medicaid: Audits find overspending in Ga. program, N.C. official sets Medicaid priorities for lawmakers

States deal with personnel, budget, and contractor issues as they relate to their Medicaid programs.

Georgia Health News: Audit Targets Overspending At Community Health
A recent audit gave the state Department of Community Health a "clean report" but also found that the agency overspent its Medicaid budget by $32 million in fiscal 2012. The audit findings were discussed at an agency board meeting Thursday. Board Chairman Norm Boyd said that though the amount of money appears large, it represents just one day of Medicaid spending in Georgia. The budgetary control problem was the one "significant"' finding in an audit assessment that otherwise showed improvement in the agency, said Boyd, who was elected chairman at the meeting Thursday. DCH Commissioner David Cook said the overspending won't happen again. He said the agency currently has "zero money'" for Medicaid reserves, and that the Medicaid program is already underfunded by $1.2 million under the current House budget (Miller, 2/14).

North Carolina Health News: DHHS Secretary Wos Lays Out Priorities For Legislators
Medicaid and information technology – those were the two priorities laid out by the new Health and Human Services secretary for her department Wednesday at the General Assembly. HHS Secretary Aldona Wos came to the state legislature for the second time since taking her position five weeks ago to tell lawmakers what she thinks DHHS needs to do (Hoban, 2/14).

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: LogistiCare To Bid On New Medicaid Transportation Contract
LogistiCare, the company blamed for thousands of late and no-show medical rides for Wisconsin Medicaid patients, intends to bid on a new contract. That became official this week when the Department of Health Services revealed, in response to a Journal Sentinel request, that LogistiCare had submitted a notice of intent to bid, as have four others - Access2Care, American United Taxi Services, MTM Inc. and Wisconsin Coordinated Transportation Cooperative. Proposals are due Thursday. LogistiCare terminated its $38 million contract with the State of Wisconsin effective Feb. 17, saying it was losing money and it should have asked for twice as much. The company will continue to dispatch rides until a new contract is signed (Laasby, 2/14).

The Associated Press: Oklahoma Medicaid Agency Says Goodbye To Director
The agency that administers Oklahoma's Medicaid program said goodbye to its longtime director Thursday, while promising to still explore new ways to deliver health care services to the state's uninsured. Mike Fogarty, 64, is stepping down as CEO of the Oklahoma Health Care Authority effective March 1. He announced his retirement in September, two months before Gov. Mary Fallin rejected an opportunity to expand the state's Medicaid program under the federal health care overhaul law to provide services to 200,000 uninsured, low-income Oklahomans (Talley, 2/14).