A new Iowa Medicaid program saved taxpayers more than $23 million during its first year of operation, Enhanced Online News reported.

The savings were the result of multiple strategies, such as ensuring that paid services are medically necessary and preventing “upcoding” of claims by medical providers. The program also makes sure that Medicaid is reimbursed if a health service is eventually covered by another insurer.

“This is a new area of oversight for us, and it has proven to be very helpful, especially in these days of limited public funds,” said Medicaid Director Jennifer Vermeer.

Nearly two-thirds of the savings were the result of recoveries due to analysis of paid claims, including about $6.5 million from a program that reviews situations in which a medical provider such as a hospital is paid by both Medicaid and other insurance payers for the same patient visit or procedure.

Eden Prairie-based OptumInsight, formerly Ingenix, was awarded the program integrity contract to implement the oversight. The first-year savings due to cost avoidance or recoveries exceeded the total three-year contract cost of $14 million, Vermeer said. The prior year’s savings were approximately $8.6 million.

“We’ve shown that aggressive oversight can result in substantial savings or paybacks of public dollars without jeopardizing essential health care for some 400,000 Iowans who rely on Medicaid,” Vermeer said.