CDPH over-reported more than 130,000 cases. There were 4,350 duplicate beneficiaries within the current claims system. Based on the duplicate beneficiaries, the Program has been assessed $218,000 in duplicate billings. EWC pays Case Management Service (CMS) fees to primary care providers, a practice that four out of five states in the national program do not pay. In fiscal year 2008-09, CMS fees represented $8.98 million, or 17 percent of total EWC Program funding. $15.3 million in cash from July 2007 had not been recorded in accounting records as of June 30, 2009.

"We fully understand that tobacco tax revenues are declining, which has contributed to declining funds for the program," said Weintraub. "If that trend continues, it may impact the sustainability of the program unless other sources of funds are developed. Yet the program's sustainability is also threatened by lack of internal controls. It is critical that management and governance reforms be made to ensure that funds are being spent directly on patients in need."

Komen noted that when breast cancer is detected early, before it spreads beyond the breast, the 5-year relative survival rate is 98 percent. Once the cancer spreads to other parts of the body, survival rates plummet to 23 percent.

"We do not envy the difficult decisions our elected leaders must make as the budget is finalized for the next fiscal year," said Weintraub. "However, the patients, survivors and advocates in our network implore California's leaders to remember the women who, without life-saving breast cancer screening and treatment services offered through the EWC Program, will have nowhere else to go."

SOURCE Susan G. Komen for the Cure?® Los Angeles County Affiliate