Audit: Feds Overpaid Mass. $106M For Medicaid

A new audit says the federal government overpaid Massachusetts nearly $106 million in Medicaid reimbursements and recommends that the state be ordered to refund the money.

In a report released Wednesday, the inspector general's office of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said the state incorrectly calculated federal reimbursement rates for adjusted Medicaid claims submitted between October 2008 and December 2010.

The reimbursement rate — typically 50 percent — was temporarily increased during that period to help states out financially after the economic downturn.

State officials are not disputing the findings, but argue that under the same set of rules being applied by the inspector general, Massachusetts is owed $108 million in additional Medicaid reimbursements for the months after the rates were returned to normal.