Kewaunee County Board OKs $117K settlement on overpayments to Human Services

KEWAUNEE - The Kewuanee County Board signed off Tuesday on a tentative settlement payment of $117,645.86 for overpayments by the state and federal governments to the county's Human Services Department.

The discrepancy was found in an audit for the state Department of Health Services of claims submitted by Human Services between Oct. 1, 2015, and March 31, 2016, for the county's Comprehensive Community Services. The review by the state Office of the Inspector General indicated the potential overpayment was $156,861.14.

Human Services Director Bob Mattice said Wednesday the overpayment was a result of paperwork for the claims that was not filed properly or in a timely manner. He said a number of counties in Wisconsin have dealt with the same problem recently.

"It was a simple oversight based on getting the paperwork filed timely," Mattice said. "The services were proper and appropriate; it was just a matter of paperwork."

Mattice said 60 percent of the payments come from the federal government as part of the Medicaid program, 40 percent from the state. With the settlement, the federal government will get all of its overpayments back and the state will get the remainder.

The settlement payment is conditional upon a review of a second audit of Comprehensive Community Services claims by the county from Sept. 1 of this year through March 31, 2019. The audit would take place as soon as April. If it shows what the office called "substantial compliance (an error rate of less than 12.5 percent)," the settlement will be approved.

The county also will be responsible for overpayments found in that second audit, but Mattice said he feels the situation is under control now.

"The problem that existed has been rectified," Mattice said. "We had a state expert come in to see what we're doing, and he did not see any problems."

Mattice said county officials will discuss from where the funds for the settlement will come.

Broadband committee named

The board also confirmed the members of its Broadband Study Committee, which formed after the board delayed approval of a proposed $1 million investment in expanding broadband access across the county in its 2019 budget.

The members are: Board Chairman Robert Weidner, Vice Chairman Gary Paape and Sups. Thomas Romdenne, Lee Luft, Mary Ellen Dobbins, Kent Treml, Aaron Augustian and Thomas Cretney; County Administrator Scott Feldt, Corporation Counsel Jeffrey Wisnicky and Land Information Director Steve Hanson; and citizen members Frank Madzarevic of Luxemburg, August Neverman of Denmark, Jason Melotte of Algoma, Ryan Hoffman of Sturgeon Bay and Kim Larson of the Kewaunee County Economic Development Corp.

Their terms run through April 2020.

This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Kewaunee County Board OKs $117K settlement on overpayments to Human Services