Clerical errors and failure by government workers to validate Social Security numbers could be costing Virginia’s Medicaid program $5 million annually, a state audit says. The auditor of public accounts found that in one month, the Department of Medical Assistance Services did not receive valid Social Security numbers for 1,350 individuals, which cost the program $426,000.
“We went in and we did a computer match, and we were able to determine, based on that match, how many people had invalid social security numbers,” said Walter Kucharski, the state’s auditor of public accounts.
The discrepancies could be as simple as hitting a one instead of a two, or it could be a matter of a social worker not following up when someone says they can’t immediately produce a Social Security number, he said.
Social workers have to accept a person’s Social Security number “on good faith” if they’re not able to validate it during intake, and they have 12 months to follow up and verify a correct number in such cases.
Kucharski said that the issue would likely have to be taken up by Secretary of Health and Human Resources Bill Hazel, and that it really lies with the local social service departments.
“Neither Medicaid nor the central office can make them fix it,” he said. “If the local office doesn’t do it right, then there’s really no way to get back to them to correct [it].”
Carla Harris, a spokeswoman for the state’s Department of Social Services, said that the department is evaluating alternatives to automate the process of correcting invalid numbers, which is currently done manually.
The department “takes its role as a steward of the commonwealth’s money very seriously and continuously strives to ensure that local departments of social services properly determine eligibility for benefits,” she said.
The findings come on the heels of a report from Virginia’s Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission last fall, which found that Virginia had $38.9 million in known improper Medicaid payments in fiscal 2009, consisting of roughly equal amounts of fraud and error.
That report also found up to $50.3 million in potential fraud or error was avoided by blocking improper payments before they were paid.
