The state’s privatized Medicaid system is drawing considerable criticism, and Kansas lawmakers and agency officials need to get to the bottom of the situation.

Local residents should be particularly interested in last week’s testimony by Lawrence Memorial Hospital officials to a joint legislative committee that oversees KanCare, the name given to the Kansas Medicaid system. The LMH officials said the three private insurance companies that operate the KanCare system routinely deny legitimate claims to hold down costs. LMH also claims that the companies don’t meet deadlines and often deny they have given authorization for treatment when hospital records indicate that authorization was received.

That triggers a costly and time-consuming appeals process that LMH says it has had to hire additional staff to handle — with lackluster results. LMH officials say only about 35 percent of the appeals result in claims being paid, compared to a success rate of about 90 percent with Medicare appeals.

Predictably, officials of the three insurance companies — UnitedHealthcare, Sunflower Health Plan and Amerigroup — disputed the LMH claims. Although it’s hard to see why LMH officials would lie about or misrepresent this situation, maybe there is some honest miscommunication or misunderstanding that could be corrected. Right now, there appears to be a standoff on a reimbursement issue that could have a serious impact on LMH and an even greater impact on smaller hospitals that can’t afford to hire enough staff to pursue payment appeals.

One thing that might help is for the state to finally hire an inspector general for the KanCare program. This position, which was created to serve as a watchdog over the private Medicaid system, has been vacant for nearly two years. The inspector general is supposed to investigate fraud, waste and misconduct in the Medicaid system, and, for the last two years, no one has been doing that job. Is it any wonder that complaints are surfacing?

Susan Mosier, secretary of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, told lawmakers last week that the agency hadn’t been able to hire a qualified inspector general. The salary has been raised, she said, but still no luck. This is a totally unacceptable situation. The state put private, for-profit insurance companies in control of its Medicaid system and then failed to provide the required oversight to make sure those companies were operating in an efficient and ethical manner. Maybe there are no significant problems, but without an inspector general on the job, it’s pretty hard to tell.

So far, the governor and legislative leaders have been unwilling to consider accepting federal funds to expand Medicaid in Kansas. That already is placing a hardship on both Kansas hospitals and individuals in need of care. The least state officials can do is make sure the private Medicaid system they already have put in place isn’t making those problems even worse.