TennCare may need to repay feds $400M after audit finds inflated hospital reimbursements

Tennessee’s Medicaid program, known as TennCare, may be forced to repay the federal government $400 million or more. An audit finds that the state agency inflated estimates of charity care.

While TennCare primarily funds health coverage for low-income and disabled patients, the questionable reimbursements are related to hospitals.

They often have to swallow the cost when people can’t pay their bills. But for 28 government-owned hospitals, TennCare helps offset that expense, and the money primarily comes from the federal government. Each year, the hospitals calculate how much went unpaid and are reimbursed through TennCare.

But in its audit published Thursday, Office of Inspector General in the federal Medicaid office found the state overshot by more than $1 billion dollars over a six-year period.

Read more: https://wpln.org/post/tenncare-may-need-to-repay-feds-400m-after-audit-finds-inflated-hospital-reimbursements/