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States Under-Use System for Catching Improper Payments

Less than a quarter of the states use the four-year-old system that tracks duplicate public-assistance payments.

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- States have yet to take full advantage of a four-year-old system designed to reduce improper payments in public-assistance programs, according to a report released by the General Accounting Office late last week.

Only 16 states have opted to use the federal system, known as the Public Assistance Reporting Information System (PARIS), which can identify individuals or families who may be receiving benefit payments from TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families), Medicaid or food stamps in more than one state.

Federal estimates show that these public-assistance programs lose millions annually in improper payments because state and local agencies lack adequate, timely information to determine recipients eligibility for assistance.

Four states and the District of Columbia have collected data on the benefits of the PARIS and have documented savings amounting to $16 million, according to the GAOs report. Three states reported that their savings were greater than the costs they incurred to participate in the program.

According to the GAO, in February 2001 PARIS identified almost 33,000 instances in which improper payments were potentially made to individuals who appeared to reside in more than one state. The report said that 46 percent of the potential improper payments involved Medicaid benefits, while the remaining 54 percent involved some combination of TANF, Medicaid and food stamps.

Currently, PARIS is somewhat limited because less than one-third of the states participate, which reduces the size of the recipient population available for the matching process, the GAO report said. Federal agencies have also hindered the programs effectiveness by not doing enough to encourage states to participate.

The program has been further hampered by a lack of adequate guidelines to help with critical interstate communications that identify individuals during the matching process. In addition, the GAO faulted state administrators for TANF, Medicaid and food stamps for not placing a priority on using the PARIS matches to identify recipients who are residing in other states.

To improve the programs effectiveness at saving state and federal tax dollars, the GAO has recommended that the Secretary of Health and Human Services direct key federal public-assistance administrators to support PARIS and provide guidance to participating states. The GAO report also urges the federal government to step up efforts that encourage more states to join the program.

The HHS developed the PARIS in 1997 so that states could share eligibility information about individuals and families participating in TANF, Medicaid and food stamp programs.

Tod Newcombe, Features Editor
With more than 20 years of experience covering state and local government, Tod previously was the editor of Public CIO, e.Republic’s award-winning publication for information technology executives in the public sector. He is now a senior editor for Government Technology and a columnist at Governing magazine.