OLA — Evaluation of DHS Personal Care Assistance Program (2009)

Source: Office of the Legislative Auditor, Minnesota · Document date: 2009-01-01 · Type: Audit Report

OLA evaluation of the DHS Personal Care Assistance (PCA) program — Minnesota's second-largest Medicaid program by spending. Documented absence of electronic visit verification, insufficient background check requirements, and inadequate oversight of PCA agency operators.

Significance: The PCA oversight gaps identified in 2009 remained unaddressed for 14 more years until electronic visit verification was finally mandated. The same vulnerabilities documented here — no real-time verification, paper timesheets as sole evidence, inadequate agency auditing — enabled the fraud documented in the PCA program risk and small-providers investigations.

Tags: OLA, audit, PCA, personal care assistance, DHS, electronic visit verification