(Salt Lake City, UT) — Utah State Auditor Tina Cannon says federal money designed to help Medicaid patients in nursing homes was not used properly. She says only 49-percent of the federal funding went to helping patients. The majority went to companies running those facilities. The auditor accuses them of taking a big chunk of money intended for nursing homes and spending it on hospitals. Some of those companies are disputing her report. They insist their facilities comply with state and federal laws and they believe Cannon’s recommendations would put them out of business.