Review of Hurricane Katrina Uncompensated Care Costs Claimed by Mississippi for the University of Mississippi Medical Center

In response to Hurricane Katrina, section 6201 of the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 authorized Federal funding for the total costs of medically necessary uncompensated care furnished to evacuees and affected individuals without other coverage in eligible States, i.e., States that provided care to such individuals under section 1115 projects.  The University of Mississippi Medical Center (the Medical Center) received $17.9 million in uncompensated care reimbursement.

The State agency generally claimed reimbursement for services provided by the Medical Center in accordance with the approved section 1115 demonstration and uncompensated care pool plan.  Of the 200 sampled claims, 196 claims were allowable.  The remaining four claims totaling $22,379 were improper because the individuals who received the services had health care coverage under other programs. 

We recommended that the State agency (1) refund to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) the $22,379 paid to the Medical Center for improper uncompensated care claims and (2) consider reviewing the Medical Center's claims that were not included in the sample to ensure that no other health care coverage was available and make refunds to CMS if appropriate.  The State agency did not fully agree with the recommendations but said that it would make the proper adjustments in cooperation with CMS.