A Tallmadge company that provides health services owes more than $951 thousand dollars in reimbursements for overpayments of state Medicaid payments, including interest.
State auditors reports G. S. Burton Development was overpaid $895 thousand dollars between 2012 and 2014, at a time when the company received nearly $1.3 million dollars in payments for transportation and home care services.
Auditors also reported some services were performed for ineligible employees, iincluding two drivers who either didn't have a current license or were under license suspension.
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(State Auditor) Examinations of four northeast Ohio Medicaid providers identified more than $1 million in overpayments this week, according to reports released by Auditor of State Dave Yost.
Auditors uncovered much of that amount at G.S. Burton Development, LLP in Summit County, where they calculated $895,617 in overpayments stemming from 860 service errors that occurred from 2012 through 2014.
During that time, the provider received nearly $1.3 million in reimbursements from the Ohio Department of Medicaid (ODM) for 22,357 services, mostly non-medical transportation and homemaker/personal care aide services.
Auditors determined 283 services were provided by 11 employees who were ineligible during the entire period and 17 employees who were temporarily ineligible. Reasons for those determinations included a lack of criminal background checks and drug tests, missing personnel files, no first aid and/or CPR certification, and failure to complete required annual training hours.
“These requirements are pure commonsense,” Auditor Yost said. “It’s disturbing to know that some Ohioans risk being in the care of individuals who lack basic but essential medical training and who haven’t even been properly vetted for the job."
”Additionally, two drivers went periods of time without having a valid driver’s license, one temporarily had a suspended license and another driver had a driving record with six points,“Yost said.
These standards are in place to protect people and are not optional,” Yost said.
Auditors discovered 297 errors in the provider’s service documentation, including 177 instances where the units billed exceeded those documented and 86 services with no supporting documentation. With the current amount of interest, the provider owes ODM $951,525.