Local News in Brief : State Loses Audit Ruling

A Los Angeles judge Monday invalidated all state audits used to recover overpayments of Medi-Cal funds to physicians prior to May 15, saying the auditing procedures were adopted without giving notice to doctors.

Henry Fenton, a lawyer for the Union of American Physicians and Dentists, which sued the state over the auditing methods, said the ruling affects “at least hundreds of doctors” and millions of dollars. “We’re talking about a lot of money,” Fenton said.

Fenton had asked Superior Court Judge Miriam Vogel to declare the audits invalid and to seek reimbursements of payments that doctors had made in response to demands by the state Department of Health Services.

Vogel granted the request in part, declaring all audits before May 15 invalid. She set an Aug. 16 hearing to decide what to do about reimbursing physicians who made payments based on the invalid audits.

The ruling “is going to help many, many doctors treating disadvantaged people who otherwise are being driven out of the program,” Fenton said. “We hope what it does is commit (the state) to providing services to disadvantaged people and not willy-nilly trying to get back money from providers willing to stay with the program.”