GAO Report Highlights Need for Data to Monitor Spending on Personal Care Services

On February 13, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) publicly released a report titled, “Medicaid: CMS Needs Better Data to Monitor the Provision of and Spending on Personal Care Services“. The report found that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) needs better data to oversee personal care services, specifically to root out fraud and abuse. The reports looked at two data systems that collect information from states, and found that the information collected is limited due to data gaps and errors. The GAO made several recommendation on how to improve data collection, including by issuing guidance with uniform standards, better ongoing compliance monitoring, and better tracking of services to specific funding streams. 

 

The landing page for the report, with fast facts, highlights, and recommendations, is available here.