Public Affairs

Contact: Allie Dumski

Press Secretary

614-867-1770

For Immediate Release:                                                      

November 4, 2021                                                                 

The Cleveland Treatment Center, Inc. Owes Ohio Medicaid More Than $145,000

Columbus – Auditor of State Keith Faber’s Officer released the compliance examination report for the Bureau of Drug Abuse, Cleveland Treatment Center, Inc., an Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services licensed treatment program located in Cuyahoga County. Auditors examined select individual counseling and methadone administration services for compliance with the Medicaid requirements during the period of January 1, 2018 through June 30, 2018.

The examination disclosed that 89 percent of the sampled individual counseling services did not meet requirements due to the lack of a treatment plan, the lack of documentation to support the payment and sessions rendered by an unqualified practitioner. In addition, the examination found duplicate billings for methadone administration services.

Auditors identified improper Medicaid payments in the amount of $145,233. This finding plus interest in the amount of $11,677 totaling $156,910 is due and payable to the Department of Medicaid.

The report noted significant non-compliance findings including:

• 1 practitioner rendered individual counseling services during a period when her certification had lapsed;  
• 234 payments for methadone administration lacked documentation to support the payment;
• 12 payments for counseling services lacked documentation to support the payment; and
• 79 of the 93 counseling services examined lacked a treatment plan.

The report contains recommendations for the Center to review its quality assurance process to ensure that all personnel meet applicable requirements, documentation is present, complete, and accurate, that units billed are supported by the documentation, and that treatment plans are in place as required prior to submitting claims for reimbursement.

The Center acknowledged the results of the compliance examination and outlined the following actions in response:

• Increased the frequency of testing internal controls and expanded the sample of records and documents reviewed;
• Secured a billing specialist with experience in Medicaid and insurance billing; and
• Reviewing documentation prior to billing and reporting identified errors for repayment. 

A full copy of this report is available online.

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The Auditor of State’s office, one of five independently elected statewide offices in Ohio is responsible for auditing more than 6,000 state and local government agencies. Under the direction of Auditor Keith Faber, the office also provides financial services to local governments, investigates and prevents fraud in public agencies, and promotes transparency in government.