BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Louisiana mistakenly paid nearly $1.9 million for privatized Medicaid benefits for 1,727 people after they had died, according to an audit released Monday.

Legislative Auditor Daryl Purpera's office discovered the errors when it compared payments the state Department of Health and Hospitals made for privatized Medicaid services in the 2012-13 budget year, to lists of the deceased obtained through DHH's vital records office.

The auditors found the department incorrectly paid $1.6 million to the five managed care organizations that oversee medical services for Medicaid patients through a program called Bayou Health. DHH paid $258,000 to Magellan Health Services, the company managing addictive treatment and mental health services through the Medicaid program called the Louisiana Behavioral Health Partnership.