Arkansas overpays MU incentives by $1.2M
An Office of the Inspector General (OIG) audit found that the Arkansas Department of Human Services overpaid a total of 14 hospitals EHR incentive payments $1.2 million.
According to the OIG's report, the office reviewed incentive payments among 20 of the highest paid hospitals from November 1, 2011 to June 30, 2013, and found that the Arkansas Department of Human Services paid 20 hospitals more than $19 million, which covered 65 percent of the total amount paid between the time period of the audit.
“The state agency did not always pay EHR incentive program payments in accordance with federal and state requirements,” the report said. “The state agency made incorrect EHR incentive payments to 14 hospitals. Specifically, for 13 hospitals, the state agency made incorrect payments totaling $1,225,734.”
The errors were due to the Arkansas Department of Human Services not following federal requirements with regard to cost report data elements concerning incentive payments. The organization also failed to review supporting documentation for figures available in the reports.
The OIG report includes several recommendations the Arkansas Department of Human Services will need to follow. First, is refunding $79,428 to the federal government. Also, the agency will need to modify the EHR incentive payments across the hospitals that received incorrectly calculated disbursement.
The report also said the Arkansas Department of Human Services must review all payment calculations given to hospitals that were not part of the 20 hospitals within the audit. The organization will need to determine whether payment adjustments are needed.
“The state agency did not concur with the recommendation to refund the net overpayment of $79,428 but stated that the incentive payments for 8 of the 13 hospitals had already been adjusted in accordance with our finding,” the report states. “The state agency also stated that it expected the incentive payments for the other five hospitals to be adjusted in accordance with our findings. The state agency also did not concur with our recommendation to work with the one hospital for which the total incentive amount was set aside to recalculate the incentive payment using the June 2009 cost report data.”
Read the entire OIG report.
Editor
Editor Beth earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and master’s in health communication. She has worked in hospital, academic and publishing settings over the past 20 years. Beth joined TriMed in 2005, as editor of CMIO and Clinical Innovation + Technology. When not covering all things related to health IT, she spends time with her husband and three children.