LOS ANGELES COUNTY : Millions in Medi-Cal Funds Lost, Audit Says

An audit released this week of the county’s medical billing practices indicates that the Department of Health Services lost millions of dollars because it failed to bill the Medi-Cal fund in time.

The report focused on the department’s consolidated business office, which is responsible for getting reimbursements from the Medi-Cal program for inpatient medical care at three of the county’s six public hospitals.

Auditor-Controller Alan Sasaki said in the report to the Board of Supervisors that the department will not be eligible for about $12 million in Medi-Cal reimbursements for unbilled accounts first identified in February, 1993. The Health Department had to write off about $9.2 million in Medi-Cal charges for the 1992-93 fiscal year “because the accounts exceeded the Medi-Cal billing time limit,” Sasaki wrote.

Art Bernal, manager of the billing office, said the audit does not consider the complexity of Medi-Cal forms. Bernal said his department had 304 full-time employees in 1990, but budget cuts have forced him to cut 71 positions.