It’s been 20 months since the Jindal administration canceled a nearly $200 million Medicaid claims processing contract amid allegations of improprieties in the way it was awarded.
During that time, the administration has not sought any new proposals from private contractors.
Instead, the vendor that had the contract, Molina Healthcare Inc., continued to enroll Medicaid providers, pay medical claims, monitor for fraud and provide prior authorization for certain medical services for more than 1 million Louisiana residents. Based in Long Beach, California, Molina operates similar businesses in 16 states, including Louisiana. Molina has made more than $420 million over the life of its contracts with this state, which date back to fiscal year 2005.
The state Department of Health and Hospitals will be asking the Louisiana Legislature later this month for permission to extend the contract one more time.