Referred to committee on Children and Families.
__________________
State of Wisconsin
Wisconsin Women's Council
Madison
October 1, 2004
To the Honorable, the Legislature:
Wisconsin Statutes §
16.01 (2)(g) requires the Council to submit a biennial report on its activities to the Governor and to the Chief Clerk of each house of the legislature. This letter is intended to fulfill this statutory requirement. A list of Council Members and a budget/staffing summary for the 2001-2003 biennium are provided in Attachments.
Questions about the Wisconsin Women's Council and requests for additional copies of this report may be directed to the Wisconsin Women's Council, 101 East Wilson, 8th Floor, Madison, WI 53703, or by telephone at (608) 266-2219.
Respectfully submitted,
Christine Lidbury
Executive Director
Referred to committee on Children and Families.
__________________
State of Wisconsin
University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics
Madison
October 2004
To the Honorable, the Legislature:
The University of Wisconsin Hospitals and Clinics Authority (UWHCA) was created in 1995 by Chapter
233, Wisconsin Statutes, to assume operations of the University of Wisconsin Hospitals and Clinics (UWHC), effective June 29, 1996. Section
233.04 (1) requires the Authority to submit an annual report to the Wisconsin Legislature on its "patient care, education, research and community service activities and accomplishments." UWHCA is governed by a Board of Directors. The composition of the Board and means of selecting members are specified by Chapter
233, Wisconsin Statutes, which provides for 13 voting members and two non-voting members.
Referred to committee on Health.
__________________
Agency Reports
State of Wisconsin
Legislative Audit Bureau
Madison
September 28, 2004
To the Honorable, the Legislature:
As requested by the Joint Legislative Audit Committee, we have completed an evaluation of Wisconsin's process for determining eligibility for Medical Assistance program benefits, including BadgerCare. The State's Medical Assistance program is administered by the Department of Health and Family Services (DHFS), which contracts with counties to determine eligibility and provide case management services. A total of $4.3 billion in state and federal funds is budgeted for Medical Assistance benefits in fiscal year (FY) 2004-05.
Concerns have been raised about the accuracy of the eligibility determination process, in part because applicants are no longer required to provide supporting documentation for wages and other information used to establish eligibility. We found that eligibility determinations are generally correct. However, in 6.5 percent of the 200 cases we reviewed, worker errors affected program eligibility. In addition, improving the mail-in application and allowing workers greater discretion in requesting documentation of income may improve the accuracy of eligibility determinations.
A991
In 12.9 percent of an additional 101 cases we reviewed, individuals had been inappropriately denied benefits. Moreover, we estimate that approximately 1,100 individuals were inappropriately denied benefits in January 2004, the month we reviewed, because a longstanding computer system problem was not resolved until July 2004, only after we had raised the issue with DHFS staff during the course of our fieldwork.
Although we found limited evidence of recipient fraud, program integrity efforts to prevent fraud and abuse are important program functions. We found that program integrity efforts vary substantially across counties and that Wisconsin appears to be unusual in relying on benefit recoveries to fund these efforts. County officials have raised concerns about the nature and level of program integrity funding and are concerned about the sustainability of these efforts. We include a recommendation for DHFS to report to the Joint Legislative Audit Committee on its plans to address program integrity needs.
We appreciate the courtesy and cooperation extended to us by DHFS and county staff. DHFS's response follows the appendices.
Sincerely,
Janice Mueller
State Auditor
