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Fix In Sight After Glitch Halts Medicaid Workers' Pay
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Published: July 25, 2008
State workers expect that the computer glitches that blocked state Medicaid payments will be identified this week and fixed soon.
"Everyday we're making significant progress," said Holly Benson, chief of the state Agency for Health Care Administration. "We are very aware of the challenges these issues are presenting our providers."
As of today, the agency had sent out about $48 million in emergency payments to 5,600 people who hadn't been reimbursed in about a month.
Agency officials had partly blamed the users, saying the new computer system was complex, but Alan Strowd, a Medicaid bureau chief, said one of the coding problems identified had affected one group of providers in particular. Those are the workers who provide home care to disabled people under a program known as the Medicaid Waiver.
Hundreds of thousands of poor and disabled people in Florida depend on Medicaid for health care services. That includes about 30,000 who rely on the Medicaid Waiver home care.
Thousands of the people who provide that care couldn't properly file claims because of problems with a new $308 million computer system, developed by Electronic Data Systems. It was set up to take claims online but repeatedly rejected those claims, often saying the provider wasn't authorized for reimbursement.
Also, there were too few phone lines to handle the volume of calls that began coming in, so people who were having trouble weren't able to get help.
EDS has doubled to 300 the number of lines available to take calls from people having trouble, Benson said. Also it has extended the hours. They are available from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekdays and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays.
Benson said the agency had processed nearly $600 million in Medicaid payments since the new computer system went into operation and the majority of 100,000 Medicaid providers were being paid accurately and on time.
For information, providers can go to www.mymedicaid-florida.com or call 1-800-289-7799.
Reporter Lindsay Peterson can be reached at (813) 259-7834 or lpeterson@tampatrib.com.
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