Audit of Department of Health and Human Services Finds Taxpayer-Funded 7.26 Million Dollar Grant Program Ineffective

The Auditor's Office has issued an audit of the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) which has identified three separate issues. <_o3a_p>

DHHS administered a program called the Workforce Retention Program. This program was intended to provide workforce retention grants for caregivers across North Dakota who provide home and community-based services to people on Medicaid. The grant was intended to give up to $2,100 per eligible caregiver. The audit found ineligible caregivers received the money and businesses employing caregivers did not pay their eligible employees with that grant money. The total amount of state taxpayer dollars used for this grant program was $7,260,000.<_o3a_p>

There was also no way to measure the success of the grant program. While DHHS did pay a third-party consultant $177,925 for services including measuring the program's success, the information provided by the consultant was limited and the information was not used by DHHS.

The audit also identified two additional findings including:

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Issues with Safeguarding Controlled Substances at State Hospital<_o3a_p>

One of the entities DHHS oversees is the State Hospital. The audit identified weaknesses in safeguarding controlled substances. These included missing inspections of safeguards over medication inventory, controlled substances not secured, not disposing of controlled substances correctly, and not tracking controlled substances. <_o3a_p>

Children in Extreme Abusive Situations Not Removed in Mandated Time<_o3a_p>

Children in extreme abuse situations are still not being checked on in the mandated time, according to DHHS records. This is the same issue that was first brought up by the Auditor's Office in 2016.<_o3a_p>

Face-to-face contact is required for victims of child abuse between 24 hours to 14 days depending on the severity of the child abuse report. This is required by DHHS's own policy, which is consistent with national policies. The audit team found that 83% of cases in their assessment did not have face-to-face contact within the required time frames. These errors occurred in all types of cases, including those that are classified as the most severe form of child abuse. <_o3a_p>