Audit: Docs Dead But Prescriptions Still Filled

LANSING (AP) - State auditors say pharmacies were paid $89,000 for prescriptions ordered by doctors who were dead.

Auditors examined how the state of Michigan runs its Medicaid pharmacy program, which pays for medication for poor people. The money is a mix of state and federal dollars.

Auditors found that 324 pharmacies were paid for prescriptions purportedly written by 82 doctors who were already dead. Pharmacies received about $50,000 for prescriptions from doctors who had been dead for at least six months and sometimes more than two years.

The findings covered a 2 1/2-year period. The report doesn't say whether fraud was suspected. The Department of Community Health is pledging to make improvements in how it tracks deceased doctors.

The money in question is just a fraction of the program's cost.

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