Agency launches new online Medicaid provider transparency tool
Contributed by S.C. Department of Health & Human Services

South Carolinians now have a new tool to find out how their tax dollars are being spent thanks to a website that shows how much individual health care providers earn through the state's $5.4 billion Medicaid program.

The searchable database is pulled from the 25 million claims paid to nearly 30,000 South Carolina health care providers last year. The site can be searched by name or provider type, such as physicians, dentists, nursing homes, and hospitals. The site lists both the dollar amount individual providers received and the number of patients they served. Information from the database can be used to locate Medicaid providers in a particular region of the state and will assist the agency in identifying unusual billing patterns. South Carolina Medicaid provides health coverage to more than 800,000 low- income, elderly and disabled residents.

The initiative by the South Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (SCDHHS) is part of Gov. Mark Sanford's efforts to enhance government transparency. The new site is a companion to the web tool launched earlier this year that allows the public to view agency administrative expenditures.

"We are pleased to be able to offer the public a way to track how their money is spent in the Medicaid program," said SCDHHS director Emma Forkner. "This kind of spending transparency is key to ensuring accountability from government agencies and those who get paid by them."

To view the transparency site, visit www.scdhhs.

org and click on Medicaid

Transparency Database.