Previous Story
Govt saves over $10M in ‘debt’ write off
|
Posted on May 15 2005
Health providers in Hawaii have decided to write off the over $10 million “debt” of the Department of Public Health, according to the CNMI Attorney General’s Office.
In a report, Assistant AG James Livingstone said that that office successfully helped the DPH to negotiate for favorable agreements with off-island providers, particularly in Hawaii.
“We reduced debt that off-island providers alleged that DPH owed them,” said Livingstone.
He said that these were accumulated debts, mostly Medicaid, since 1998.
The AGO declined to identify the names of concerned providers, saying that the agreements were confidential.
In the same report, Livingstone said that DPH has also collected $650,000 in Medicare “overpayments” from off-island providers.
Last year, the CNMI Medicaid program had also received a total of $787,990 refund from Honolulu-based Queens Medical Center and the local outpatient PHI Pharmacy following findings of “overcharging.”
The Medicaid Office said last year that it received a total of $542,292 refund since November 2002 from QMC.
Locally, the Medicaid also received $245,292 from PHI Pharmacy covering the period from June 2002 to December 2002.
Under the regulations, reimbursement funds are placed in Medicaid’s suspense account at the Department of Finance.
The funds are used to pay medical claims, among others.
CNMI Medicaid receives $2.1 million in annual funding from federal appropriation, but its expense reaches $10 million every year, the government said.
There are over 7,000 Medicaid patients in the CNMI.
