Ohio Medicaid using new system to detect fraud, save money

The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS) has enrolled in the program called the "Public Assistance Reporting Information System, a computer program that matches Social Security numbers with other federal and state public assistance databases to find Ohioans who haven't accurately reported income or are receiving benefits from multiple states." (Source: "State expecting large savings in new Medicaid system," Business First of Columbus, Sept. 12, 2007.) The program will cost Ohio "$500,000 to launch and staff for three years" but the state expects to save money overall by finding people who are receiving benefits they aren't entitled to, or are receiving benefits from more than one state.

According to the article, Pennsylvania found more than 13,000 cases in 2005 where there were "problems with inaccurate income reporting and people receiving multiple state assistance." Once those issues were addressed, the state saved nearly $14 million. An ODJFS spokesman said the program should be up and running in about a year, with the delay due to programming the system and coordinating it with county governments. Ohio is one of the last states in the union to join the program, which is administered by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The decision to join the program resulted from a 2006 performance audit of the Ohio's Medicaid system.