State agency to audit nursing homes

ST. PAUL (AP) -- State officials hope a $30,000 audit of possible overcharging by nursing homes will catch most of the $5.25 million in yearly overcharges it typically finds.

The $30,000 is $270,000 less than the state spent on the audits last time.

''We won't do the random audits as before, but we think by targeting our audits we can do very well,'' Maria Gomez, assistant commissioner of the Human Services Department, told the House Health and Human Services Finance Committee on Wednesday.

The Minnesota Department of Human Services hires the state Health Department to conduct random spot checks to make sure homes are charging the right amount for residents' care.

Human services officials decided to scale back the audits this year because of budget constraints, and legislators asked for an accounting after reports that the state might lose millions of dollars as a result.