Full announcement from the Office of the Governor:

Raleigh, N.C. - Today, Governor Pat McCrory welcomed a recent independent audit of the state’s Medicaid program by State Auditor Beth Wood and highlighted the need to address cost control and accountability issues in the program through proactive reforms.

“This audit should be a concern for every North Carolinian,” said Governor McCrory. “Every dollar that is mismanaged at the Department of Health and Human Services for Medicaid is one dollar less that is available for medical services, education or road and bridge repair.”

1.5 million North Carolinians are enrolled in the state’s Medicaid program, and more than 88 million Medicaid claims are processed by the Department of Health and Human Services every year. On average, North Carolina’s Medicaid program costs North Carolina approximately $36 million a day.

The independent audit of the state’s Medicaid program by State Auditor Beth Wood highlighted administrative inefficiency, lack of oversight of contracts, lax cost-control and cost-management measures and disjointed accounting practices that have led to inaccurate financial projections.

“This information is critical to us in the work we have ahead to reform the Medicaid system in North Carolina,” said Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Aldona Wos, M.D. “I am pleased to say that we already are taking proactive steps to address some of these issues – the most important of which is hiring Carol Steckel, a nationally recognized expert in Medicaid, to run our Medicaid program.”

Carol Steckel comes to North Carolina from Louisiana, where she coordinated the state’s response to the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (PPACA) legislation. She led initiatives to improve the state’s public health care services while reducing costs, and to revamp its information technology capabilities, taking extensive advantage of the private and academic sectors while reducing public employment. Previously, she led Alabama Medicaid from 1988-1992 and from 2003-2010. In 2011 she provided instrumental support to the Republican Governors Association in developing a report titled “A New Medicaid: A Flexible, Innovative and Accountable Future.”