New Illinois Medicaid Chief Pledges To Crack Down On Benefits To Dead People
From the Southern Illinoisan
The new director of Illinois' Medicaid program pledged Tuesday to crack down on the number of dead people who receive health insurance benefits from the state.
But, said Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services chief Felicia Norwood, her agency remains hobbled by outdated computer systems and a reliance on other agencies for information that can lead to errors.
"Much work remains to be done," said Norwood, who was named to the position by Gov. Bruce Rauner in January.
At issue are two audits that found the state has spent millions of dollars on health insurance for people who were deceased.
The findings triggered outrage from lawmakers and generated at least one legislative proposal to hire an outside firm to ensure Medicaid recipients are eligible to receive benefits.
"Our ultimate goal is to reduce this as much as we can," Norwood told members of the Legislative Audit Commission, which met Tuesday to review Auditor General William Holland's 2014 report.
Norwood warned that it will take time and money to upgrade computer systems in order to ensure the agency has death records in a timely fashion.
She told the panel that future audits may find similar problems, but the number of dead people receiving benefits should steadily shrink as time goes along.
Read more in our daily News Update...
From the Southern Illinoisan
The new director of Illinois' Medicaid program pledged Tuesday to crack down on the number of dead people who receive health insurance benefits from the state.
But, said Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services chief Felicia Norwood, her agency remains hobbled by outdated computer systems and a reliance on other agencies for information that can lead to errors.
"Much work remains to be done," said Norwood, who was named to the position by Gov. Bruce Rauner in January.
At issue are two audits that found the state has spent millions of dollars on health insurance for people who were deceased.
The findings triggered outrage from lawmakers and generated at least one legislative proposal to hire an outside firm to ensure Medicaid recipients are eligible to receive benefits.
"Our ultimate goal is to reduce this as much as we can," Norwood told members of the Legislative Audit Commission, which met Tuesday to review Auditor General William Holland's 2014 report.
Norwood warned that it will take time and money to upgrade computer systems in order to ensure the agency has death records in a timely fashion.
She told the panel that future audits may find similar problems, but the number of dead people receiving benefits should steadily shrink as time goes along.
Read more in our daily News Update...