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Long-Awaited Medicaid Audit is Released

The Joint Legislative Audit Committee, led by Republican lawmakers, requested that the Legislative Audit Bureau (LAB) conduct a comprehensive audit of Wisconsin’s Medical Assistance programs back in January 2011. Now, almost a year later, the LAB on December 20, 2011 released its comprehensive audit report. The full audit reveals a disproportionate, wasteful dependence on vendors to administer Wisconsin’s Medicaid programs and no evidence of the fraud and abuse that Medicaid opponents cited back when they called for the audit. While the audit report is not as thorough as some we have seen in the past, it still offers valuable insights into the status of Wisconsin’s health care system and spending – insights that could have been used to inform DHS officials and lawmakers before they developed and approved a waiver proposal that may irrevocably alter the face of Wisconsin’s public health landscape. Watch for a future edition of the HealthWatch Reporter devoted entirely to the Medicaid Audit.

• Audit: Red flags are flying in Wisconsin's Medicaid program
• Audit of Wis. Medicaid program raises concerns
• State audit of medical assistance programs does not find evidence of widespread fraud
• Audit debunks widespread myth of fraud in Medicaid [Press Release]
• Medicaid contractor spending increases