Louisiana ordered to repay $239M in Medicaid overpayments

Louisiana must repay $239.5 million in Medicaid overpayments received for care of the uninsured under a federal ruling made public Wednesday. The state Department of Health and Hospitals lost its appeal of a finding by federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. CMS had ruled DHH got too much money to fund uninsured care. The dispute involved reimbursements for health care delivered at LSU's charity hospitals between 1996 and 2007. DHH had argued that the federal agency had expressly approved the state's policy. The decision comes as DHH is making a new round of cuts in the $6.6 billion Medicaid budget. More cuts are expected in the budget year that begins July 1.