Washington
Some state Medicaid programs are paying too much for oxygen
equipment and supplies, according the HHS Office of Inspector
General.
In an Aug. 9 report titled Audit of Medicaid Payments for
Oxygen-Related Durable Medical Equipment and Supplies, the OIG
found that out of nine states audited in 1999, six paid a total of
$12.7 million more for oxygen equipment than Medicare would have
paid.
Four of those states — Pennsylvania, Texas, Indiana and
Kentucky — have a requirement that Medicaid rates not exceed
the Medicare allowable for oxygen, but did not follow that
requirement. As a result, the states overpaid Medicaid providers by
approximately $10 million. Two states without the requirement
— Michigan and Wisconsin — overpaid Medicaid providers
approximately $2.7 million, the report said. The three remaining
states — Minnesota, Illinois and Ohio — had Medicaid
rates equal to or less than the Medicare allowable.
The IG also conducted additional oxygen-related DME analyses
from 41 other states and the District of Columbia, and concluded
that, of those, 22 states and the nation's capital could save money
by limiting Medicaid payments to Medicare allowables.
According to an OIG spokesperson, another report on Medicare
oxygen payments, due out later in the fall, will be used to help
determine Medicare oxygen reimbursement rates in 2005 as mandated
under the MMA.
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of the home medical equipment industry.
