Summit Academy's management company points to clerical errors in audit

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

Summit Academy Management is committed to refunding overpayment to the Ohio Department of Medicaid when the company receives the final audit report, a statement from the company said.

State Auditor Dave Yost’s office released an audit of Summit Academy-Youngstown that found the school billed for services for students who were absent or not enrolled on the dates of service.

From July 1 to June 30, 2013, the charter school was overpaid by Ohio Medicaid for nearly $14,664. With interest, the school owes $15,675.

John Guyer, interim CEO of Summit Academy Management, in a statement released Friday attributed the problems to clerical and other errors.

“The errors found in the audit covering 2011 through 2013 Medicaid billings resulted from clerical or coding mistakes as well as unclear training on billing procedures,” the chief executive officer said in the statement. “Summit Academy has submitted a document that outlines the issues that were present during that period and the corrective action that we have already been taken to assure they aren’t repeated.”

Yost’s office found 14 instances where a student was absent but billing was submitted and three instances where the provider billed the wrong procedure code.

The management company attributes that to clerical issues.

“Oftentimes students are seen in small groups,” the company statement said. “In our billing system, a group of students can be billed together. While a therapist may have indicated in the treatment note that a student who is usually part of the group was absent, the group billing code was still applied. This makes it look like a therapist billed for services when a student was absent.

“To correct this clerical issue, therapists have received training from our billing agent and management company on how to properly bill, including which billing codes are appropriate to use for each discipline. Billing is reviewed monthly as another safeguard to monitor for accuracy of billing codes. Attendance cross-checks against billing are set to occur, as well,” the statement said.