The results of Colorado’s health exchange audit demanded by state lawmakers are in, and it does do not inspire a lot of confidence.
It could probably stay afloat through the next couple of years, but Connect for Health Colorado really needs to follow its own rules in the spending of millions of dollars, the audit said.
But the audit warned that continued failure to tighten up its bookkeeping and adhere to its policies could threaten the exchange’s viability.
Connect for Health CEO Kevin Patterson largely agreed with the findings, saying the exchange is continuing to improve its accounting practices. He also said the exchange is working to improve its process for fielding and responding to complaints — another area where state auditors dinged the program.
“We expect to have all these things cleaned up and appropriately change by fall this year,” Patterson said at Tuesday’s meeting.
Your customers would really appreciate that, especially all those problems found in the appeals process, where data was just plain wrong or incomplete on 42 out of 153 appeals, and one-third of appeals were not resolved within 90 days.
Customers also found the complaint process “confusing and challenging.”
The system might be able to survive on fees alone without massive federal government subsidies for a couple of years, but unless continuing problems are really, seriously gotten under control, customers aren’t the only ones who will find the rejection process confusing.