GAO’s assisted living report part of testimony at House hearing on Medicaid [Video]

Assisted living made an appearance Thursday at a House of Representatives committee hearing on the Medicaid program when a Government Accountability Office report related to the industry was referenced in the written testimony of a witness.

Carolyn L. Yocom, a healthcare director at the GAO, focused her comments to members of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform’s Government Operations and Intergovernmental Affairs subcommittees on opportunities to improve oversight of the Medicaid program as part of the hearing’s overall topic of improper payments in the program.

Improper payments across all federal programs have cost taxpayers an estimated $1.2 trillion since 2003, according to background information provided by the committee. The Department of Health and Human Services accounts for two-thirds of all federal improper payments, and the Medicaid program specifically contributes to approximately $36 billion of those improper payments, the committee said.

“Due to concerns about the adequacy of oversight, Medicaid has been on our list …