Review of Washington State's Administrative Costs Claimed for Medicaid School-Based Health Services in State Fiscal Year 2000

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

The objective of this review was to determine whether administrative expenditures claimed by the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services (State) for school-based health services for the period July 1, 1999 through June 30, 2000 (State Fiscal Year (SFY) 2000) were reasonable, allowable, and adequately supported.  The final report points out that the State did not properly implement and monitor the school-based health services administrative match program.  As a result, in SFY 2000 the State: (1) claimed $527,102 in Federal financial participation based upon unallowable overhead costs for three school districts; (2) utilized non-Medicaid program data to allocate costs between Medicaid and non-Medicaid students; and (3) allowed invalid time studies to be used to claim Federal reimbursement. We recommended procedural improvements and a financial adjustment of $527,102 for the payments of unallowable overhead costs.