Executive Report

New computer system monitors Medicaid claims

A COMPUTER system called the Medicaid Management Information System (MMIS) is now being used to help the Department of Public Aid identify abusers of the state's $1.6 billion Medicaid program. The MMIS, which began operating in September, is designed to provide accurate accounts of all medical claims submitted to the department. A subsystem of MMIS, the Surveillance and Utilization Review Subsystem |SURS), will detect and correct overuse of medical benefits by recipients of Medicaid and identify unusual patterns in the provision of care by medical providers. Approximately 25,000 medical providers are enrolled in the Medicaid program; as of August 1981, there were 948,869 persons in Illinois eligible for medical assistance.

Public Aid Director Jeffrey Miller has asked for federal certification of MMIS; federal review for certification will take place after the system has operated for six months. Once certified, Illinois will receive federal reimbursement for 75 percent of the administrative costs of MMIS retroactive to October 1, 1981. At present the state is reimbursed for 50 percent of those expenses.

FAA's regional headquarters

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has reversed its decision to relocate 395 employees of its Great Lakes Region office in Des Plaines to Kansas City (see Executive Report, September, p. 34). The proposed relocation, which would have cost the Chicago area economy an estimated $20 million annually, was protested by the governor and the Illinois congressional delegation on the grounds that the Chicago area is the most centrally located metropolitan area in the region. The FAA not only scrapped its plan but decided to expand the Des Plaines office by 16 employees in order to cover an expanded region including North and South Dakota.

Prison construction and renovation

A new 750-bed medium security prison in Vienna is one of eleven capital projects designed to ease overcrowding in the state's prisons and upgrade Department of Corrections facilities statewide. The projects announced by Gov. James R. Thompson September 10, will cost a total of $16.6 million and include major renovations at Pontiac Correctional Center in Pontiac, Stateville Correctional Center in Joliet, and the Menard Psychiatric Center in Chester.

Meanwhile, the Department of Corrections announced in August that the John A. Graham Correctional Center in Hillsboro, one of the state's newest prisons, had reached its maximum prisoner capacity, bringing the total number of prison bed spaces in Illinois to 13,245. All 13 adult correctional facilities in the state are now at or near full capacity, but the department estimates that the prison population will reach 16,500 by December, 1984.

Public works program for prisoners

The Department of Corrections announced in September a new program to place prisoners in jobs with state and local governments. The prisoners must have good behavior records and be serving the last eight months of their sentences. More than 50 prisoners from 12 community correctional centers will participate while finishing their terms at the centers. They will work in state parks and conservation areas. The program may expand to include other government agencies and not-for-profit corporations.

Local government investment pool

Units of local government who participated in the Illinois Public Treasurers Investment Pool in 1981 earned nearly $7.5 million in interest on short-term deposits of public funds. The investment pool, according to State Treasurer Jerome Cosentino, is a way for local governments to earn maximum interest on investments while retaining the ability to transfer the money quickly in order to pay bills.

Abandoned mine reclamation

The Abandoned Mined Lands Reclamation Council has been given $62,500 in emergency federal funding to correct hazardous conditions at four abandoned mines of the Big Bear Mine Group near Peoria. The council said the money would be used to demolish old mine structures and seal eight mines.

December 1981 | Illinois Issues | 31