"This audit provides more evidence that the administration has been mismanaging the Medicaid system and has been manipulating the payment process," Hynes said. "By doing so, they are not helping people as they claim. Rather, they are harming some of the most vulnerable Illinoisans and the dedicated healthcare professionals who are trying to provide those citizens with critical services."

An audit of the Department of Healthcare and Family Services issued by Auditor General William G. Holland demonstrates the administration's incompetence and manipulative tactics regarding the state's healthcare program, Hynes said.

"This is appalling and inexcusable," Hynes said. "Healthcare providers have been forced out of business as a result of the ongoing mismanagement of this program and, as a result, people in the program are unable to obtain the healthcare they desperately need."

Among the findings:

• During the last three fiscal years on average $1.5 billion in medical claims went unpaid in the same year the services were provided.
• Due to the late payments, the agency accrued potentially $81 million in interest costs since FY2000. In the current fiscal year alone, Hynes noted, the state has paid out more than $20 million in late-payment interest for healthcare-related bills.
• The agency failed to develop a system to pay interest on late medical reimbursements until nearly eight years after it should have done so. It took an average of 452 days to pay interest due to some healthcare providers.
• While it took on average only six days to process healthcare bills, it took on average 57 days for the agency to submit those same claims for payment to the Comptroller's Office.
• The auditor general said HFS could not document how it determined which Medicaid providers received payment and when.

"These findings document in detail what many have long suspected," Hynes said. "The state's healthcare system is broken. It doesn't work for the people it is intended to serve and it doesn't work for the people who deliver those services. Fixing it should be a top priority."

Hynes called on the General Assembly to pass his Health Access and Provider Fairness Initiative (HB3397) which would close a loophole which currently allows the administration to hide the true cost of providing healthcare annually by delaying payments for that care. The measure, sponsored by Rep. Will Davis, has 14 sponsors and is supported by the Illinois Academy of Family Physicians, the Illinois State Dental Society, the Illinois Pharmacist Association, the Illinois Rural Health Association, the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability, the Taxpayer's Federation of Illinois and the Illinois Association of Rehabilitation Facilities.