LINCOLN- On Wednesday, State Auditor Mike Foley said that his auditing team found tens of thousands of dollars of questionable billings related to the Department of Health and Human Service's Medicaid-funded personal assistance service programs. In a report, Foley and his team described how one service provider bills Nebraska's DHHS for 32 hours of work they supposedly performed in a 24-hour period.

Another provider billed DHHS for client care that occurred over the course of nine days, when Facebook postings showed the patient traveling during that timeframe. Foley described these questionable billings as "flagrant abuses, including suspected fraud committed by certain care providers fleecing the program to receive unearned payments."

Foley said that such deficiencies have been identified in the program for at least a decade, but that the latest examples convinced him that it is in "desperate need of an overhaul." Steve Corsi, chief executive of DHHS, said in a statement that he is now working with Foley to increase safeguards and ensure that "taxpayer dollars are spent responsibly."

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