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Dear Friends,
Fall was fun while it lasted but it certainly feels like winter has come. Let's hope for a quick warm up before we dive deep into winter. Below is a quick update from the Capitol, have a great week!
Audit of DHS Tribal Program
Last Tuesday, the non-partisan Legislative Auditor released a special review of the $29 million in improper payments made by DHS to two tribal governments for addiction services.
You can read the full special review here.
The OLA blamed "troubling dysfunction" at the agency for the improper payments, and concluded that "fundamental and deep reforms within DHS are needed." They noted that DHS "did not have legal authority to make the payments; it did not document why, when, and who decided it was appropriate to make the payments; no one at DHS takes responsibility for the decision; and no one at DHS can provide a rationale for the payments. The overpayments continued over several years and did not stop until an outside inquiry brought them to light."
The OLA recommends instituting a "comprehensive system of documented management reviews and approvals" for payments made with Medicaid funds. They also repeatedly noted the failure by the numerous levels of management and middle-management that allowed a low-level employee to "unilaterally institute—without legal authority—a payment policy that sent millions of federal funds to those tribes," and said it was "extremely troubling" that the payment practice continued unnoticed by numerous layers of management for years.
Having operated in a regulated industry (banking) for nearly 45 years and seeing first hand the need to comply with rules and regulations or be punished, this report is very upsetting. The most frustrating part is because it seems government agencies are not held to the same standards that we taxpayers and business are when we don’t follow the rules.
Reports like this bring to the forefront how important it is to have the Office of the Legislative Auditor, which acts independent from the executive branch to make sure taxpayer’s dollars are being spent as directed by the legislature.We are fortunate that recently the Legislative Budget Office was enacted so now we not only have a way of looking back (audit), but also looking forward (fiscal notes – cost estimates of bills), so the legislature will have a more objective idea of what new legislation will cost.
It’s also important to remember that although most of the media attention goes to new initiatives and programs, it’s just as important to be watchdogs of how the money currently being spent is administered. The mismanagement of this nearly $30 million dollars could have gone a long way toward fixing roads or other necessary state needs.
Finally, at the end of the day, we need to make sure Minnesota taxpayers are not asked to clean up this mess at DHS. The Department of Human Services has a budget of $18 billion and should be held responsible for correcting this error within their own budget.
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