ST. PAUL — A federal audit estimates that Minnesota made $3.7 million in unallowed payments to managed care organizations from 2014 to 2016 for dead people who had been enrolled in Medicaid.

The inspector general at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said in a report Wednesday that the unallowed payments happened because the state didn’t always properly update its records to show that beneficiaries had died. The report recommended that the state refund the $3.2 million to the federal government and work recover improper payments.

The Minnesota Department of Human Services blamed the switchover to a new computer system. Commissioner Jodi Harpstead said her department began fixing the problems and recovering the overpayments long before the audit. She said her department will refund any additional overpayments that can be verified.