California's Medicaid program still submits paper records for federal review of spending instead of using electronic files, according to a California Healthline report.
Six things to know:
1. A Sept. 5 report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office showed a photo of paper files used to review the state's Medicaid spending for three months in fiscal year 2015.
2. The GAO said CMS reviewed piles of paper documents each quarter (as in the photo) and "had to be on-site at state offices in Sacramento in a room full of hard copy documents when further investigation was required."
3. California officials attributed the issue to using more than 90 separate computer systems to run the state Medicaid program, known as Medi-Cal.
"Given system limitations and the magnitude of the supporting documentation, providing it electronically is currently not feasible," the California Department of Health Care Services told California Healthline.
State officials indicated, however, that California does plan to modernize its technology.
4. Technology has been an issue with Medi-Cal, according to the report. In 2016, the California Department of Health Care Services and Xerox discontinued their Medicaid IT system modernization project. Xerox was contracted to take over, operate and upgrade the department's legacy system, as well as design and implement a replacement management system for the state's Medicaid program. However, the state scrapped the contract after years of delay. As part of a settlement, Xerox agreed to pay the California Department of Health Care Services approximately $123 million in cash and $15 million hardware and software costs. It also agreed to dismiss $5 million worth of payment claims.
5. States are required to submit data quarterly for federal review of Medicaid spending and include supporting documents, according to the report. The GAO said California's supporting documentation is not submitted electronically.
6. In August, California awarded a contract to Tysons, Va.-based IT services provider DXC Technology to take over some operations from Conduent, a separate company spun off from Xerox, according to the report. Additionally, the report states, California's Medicaid officials are working toward the potential implementation of a new system, estimated to cost $500 million.
Read the full California Healthline report here.
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