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WILKES-BARRE — Auditor General Eugene DePasquale on Wednesday said he will audit six caregiving organizations, one of them here, to ensure Medicaid patients receive the services for which the state pays direct care providers.

The Gardens at Wyoming Valley, on North Pennsylvania Avenue, Wilkes-Barre, was one of the six. A message left for the administrator at The Gardens at Wyoming Valley was not immediately returned.

Services for seniors and people with intellectual disabilities will be the focus of the audits, the AG’s office said.

“Taxpayers pay billions of dollars a year for the medical and human services that are provided by vendors hired by the Department of Human Services,” DePasquale said. “As Pennsylvania’s chief fiscal watchdog, I will make sure that services being billed to the state are actually delivered to patients.”

The special financial audits were authorized under Act 42 of 2018, which received bipartisan support in the General Assembly as part of the current state budget.

The other five are:

• CMU — Case Management Unit, Harrisburg.

• Masonic Village, Elizabethtown.

• Dr. Gertrude A. Barber Center Inc., Erie.

• Path Inc., Philadelphia.

• Shadowfax Corp., York.

The six vendors were notified this week that auditors will begin reviewing records. The vendors provide a variety of medical and human services, including long-term care and mental health services. The audits are expected to be complete in early 2020.

“I will focus on holding vendors accountable for every last Medicaid dollar they bill to the state,” DePasquale said. “Taxpayers have a right to know that the good money they invest in helping our most vulnerable neighbors is being used effectively and efficiently.”

Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Pat Browne said expanding the scope of our appropriations process to include targeted financial audits will be valuable to ensure state resources are being utilized by vendors appropriately and in accordance with their intended purposes.

“This is especially important considering the large percentage of the state budget that is spent on human services,” Browne said. “I was pleased to lead the effort to secure $500,000 in the FY 2018-19 state budget to help finance these financial audits. I thank the Auditor General for his willingness to take on the task of performing these random audits of human service vendors.”

DePasquale
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/web1_AG-JCC-2-1-.cmyk_-3.jpg.optimal.jpgDePasquale

By Bill O’Boyle

[email protected]

Reach Bill O’Boyle at 570-991-6118 or on Twitter @TLBillOBoyle.