Department: Health and Human Services
Title: Internal control over payments made to and on behalf of TANF clients needs improvement
Questioned Costs: Known: $4,721
Likely:$279,992
Status: Management’s opinion is that corrective action is not required
Corrective Action: OFI disagrees with this findin...
Department: Health and Human Services
Title: Internal control over payments made to and on behalf of TANF clients needs improvement
Questioned Costs: Known: $4,721
Likely:$279,992
Status: Management’s opinion is that corrective action is not required
Corrective Action: OFI disagrees with this finding.
OSA's interpretation of federal regulation regarding the recoupment of overpaid funds is incorrect, and benefit overpayments are identified and processed by OFI in compliance with federal regulation and policy. Overpayments are required to be recouped in the shortest timeframe possible, but the recoupment amount cannot exceed the standards as set by policy. Neither state policy nor federal regulation requires an overpayment to be recouped within the same state fiscal year it is identified, so it was not appropriate for OSA to include as questioned costs on that basis the two cases where recoupment did not occur in the same fiscal year that the overpayment was established.
Further, OFI disputes how OSA calculated the questioned costs. Three of the payments tested by OSA were found to be correct at the time of issuance. OSA then reviewed all payments during the state fiscal year for the three cases and stated that parent fees should have been adjusted based on documentation in DocuWare. Transitional Child Care does not require changes in income to be reported during the certification period unless the gross income exceeds 250% of the federal poverty level (MPAM, Ch. V, A, (6)), and adjustment of the parent fees were not required for these cases. They should not be included in the list of exceptions. While OSA cites MPAM, Ch. V, A (6), "TCC payments remain constant until a redetermination is completed, or until the recipient or child care provider reports a change that affects the amount of TCC benefits (emphasis added)" the reported change did not affect the amount of TCC benefits.
Completion Date: N/A
Agency Contact: Ian Yaffe, Director, Office for Family Independence, DHHS, 207- 592-1481