Legislature ponders Medicaid oversight role

? A Kansas Senate committee wants to give the inspector general for the Medicaid program a new home to improve oversight of the program.

Committee members just can’t agree on where that home should be.

The inspector general’s office was created in 2007 to ferret out potential problems within the state’s health care programs, including Medicaid.

It’s been housed in the Kansas Health Policy Authority, which administers most of the $2.4 billion Medicaid program.

But some legislators question whether the office is independent enough. On Thursday, the committee tabled the bill after some members suggested the attorney general’s office would be a better home, while others thought the Department of Administration is a better fit.