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Thursday, Apr. 17, 2025

Does Minnesota check death records before issuing Medicaid payments? 

Gregg Aamot, MinnPost
yes

While oversights occasionally happen, the Minnesota Department of Human Services reviews state death records to identify Medicaid enrollees who have passed away.

Those found to be deceased are removed from the program. Contractors periodically monitor the system for continued payments after an enrollee has died. According to a MDHS spokesperson, the department finds “very few incidents of this occurring” and any erroneous payments made are recouped.

The spokesperson noted that the largest number of such payments occurred early in the pandemic when there were delays in updating death records.

The Office of the Inspector General found that $3.7 million in payments to health care companies were made on behalf of “deceased beneficiaries” in Minnesota between 2014 and 2016. In response, MDHS implemented more frequent cross-checks and better records system integration, among other improvements.

The state does not pay Medicaid dollars to individuals but to health care insurers and providers.

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