BATON ROUGE (AP) - Louisiana's health department says it collected $250,000 in fines for inaccurate record-keeping by the private companies that manage care for Medicaid patients.

  

The department's announcement Monday comes a day before a state Senate hearing to review audits that are critical of state oversight of the managed-care companies.

  

The five companies, who oversee care for 1.5 million Medicaid patients, paid a $50,000 fine each by a July deadline.

  

The health department says the companies had incorrect records for health providers enrolled with each managed-care plan. The department says there were inaccuracies in online data used by Medicaid patients to search for providers, make appointments and determine if the doctor is taking new patients.

  

Error rates topped 10 percent, which triggered the fine under terms of the companies' contracts with the state.