‘Severely Disabled’ In West Virginia Receive Care From Non-Medicaid Program Despite Eligibility

West Virginia last year spent $233,000 for services to the "severely disabled" that could have been provided by Medicaid or other programs, the AP/Charleston Daily Mail reports. According to an audit by the Legislative Auditor's Office, the state paid the Ron Yost Personal Assistance Services Program, which was created by the state Legislature in 1999 to provide home-based care, for delivering services to 23 people with severe disabilities. However, the audit found that only one of the participants in the Ron Yost program had applied for other types of assistance, while 11 program participants left blank an application question indicating whether they receive other assistance, such as Medicaid. In testifying before the state Legislature's Joint Committee on Government Operations, John Sylvia, director of the Performance Evaluation and Research Division of the auditor's office, said, "If people in the program are eligible for other programs, then they're tying up state resources." Noting that there are 24 people on the waiting list for the Ron Yost program, Sylvia added that the Legislature should amend the rules of the Yost program, which currently prohibit beneficiaries from receiving services from multiple programs, to allow patients to use the Yost program as a supplementary service (AP/Charleston Daily Mail, 6/11).