Cascadia fined for overpayments

Mental health agency Cascadia Behavioral Healthcare may be asked to pay back up to $2.7 million in overpayments it received from Medicaid in the wake of a steep drop in Oregon Health Plan coverage in 2002 and 2003.

The problems were discovered during a routine Medicaid audit by the Department of Human Services Office of Payment Recovery and Accuracy. The state agency is now in negotiations with Cascadia over the amount that must be repaid, a state spokesman said.

Portland-based Cascadia is Oregon's fifth-largest nonprofit, ranked by budget. It had a $57 million budget in fiscal year 2006-2007, and served 23,000 clients. The agency also operates housing for about 800 people with mental health disorders.

The Oregon Health Plan, Oregon's expanded Medicaid program, covered many of Cascadia's clients prior to a state budget crisis that precipitated a huge drop among the health plans' expanded membership, which included many people not traditionally eligible for Medicaid.



http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/stories/2007/12/24/daily19.html