New York State’s Comptroller says the State Health Department missed out on saving as much as $146 million, by failing to notify kidney disease patients on Medicaid that they were eligible for Medicare coverage.
Thomas DiNapoli says if those notifications had been made and the state helped those people switch, their renal disease treatment would have been directly covered by the federal government instead of through the state Medicaid program. Medicaid in New York is half funded by the state and county governments.
DiNapoli’s audit says the health department should promote getting these patients onto Medicare, the program for seniors. He says they could save another $69 million through 2018 if they do it now.