Palmetto Government Benefit Administrator's President's Council on Integrity and Efficiency Debt Collection

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

The objectives of this audit were to:  (1) determine the amount of non-tax delinquent debt owed to Medicare that existed at September 30, 2000; and (2) assess the collectibility of the delinquent debt at the contractor level for the same period.  The accounts receivable balances Palmetto Government Benefit Administrators (PGBA) reported to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services for financial statement purposes for the period ending September 30, 2000 for Part A (non-Medicare Secondary Payor (MSP) and MSP) accounts receivable was $1,280,443,717.  We reconciled the subsidiary accounts for Part A to the general account.  Other audit tests we performed on statistical samples of Part A non-MSP balances showed the vast majority of receivables were recorded, supported, complete, properly valued and existed at September 30, 2000.  However, we did recommend that the contractor reduce five Part A balances totaling over $10 thousand that were either not adequately supported or had improperly applied payments.  PGBA officials concurred with th e recommendations and agreed to take corrective action to reduce the accounts receivable balance we identified in the report.