The Louisiana Department of Health failed to properly oversee some $2.4 billion in Medicaid spending aimed at improving the health of the state’s neediest patients, according to a new report from the Louisiana Legislative Auditor.
The report, released Monday, found that over the past five years, the state’s Managed Care Incentive Program, which turned to Ochsner Health and a consortium that includes LSU Health New Orleans, LCMC Health and Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady Health System to run the program, spent more than half the money on administrative expenses and other costs that did not have a measurable impact on patient health outcomes.
“The sole focus of this program was to improve the health outcomes of Medicaid beneficiaries but that’s not happening,” Legislative Auditor Mike Waguespack said in an interview Monday. “The funds are not making it all the way down to the hospitals that are doing the work.”…