Colorado SCHIP classified 10% of beneficiaries incorrectly

Colorado auditors on Monday said that Children's Health Plan Plus, the state's version of SCHIP, incorrectly classified 10% of beneficiaries, the Denver Rocky Mountain News reports.

The misclassification means that beneficiaries in the program were either eligible and denied coverage or ineligible and received coverage. The auditors did not estimate the total cost of the errors in the report, which was given to the Legislative Audit Committee. However, in a sampling of 203 patients in seven counties, errors cost about $48,300. There are more than 53,500 children covered by the program.

The report also found that the state Department of Health Care Policy and Financing, which runs the program, does not monitor counties as they determine eligibility for the program. The department did not dispute the findings and said it is working on fixing the problems. The audit committee told the department to report on its progress in resolving the problems by November.

According to the News, "A bigger problem may be that the program is not spending enough by failing to identify thousands of kids and pregnant women who are eligible for services." The department said that more than 55% of eligible beneficiaries are enrolled (Morson, Denver Rocky Mountain News, 6/9).