Finding Text
Criteria: Medicaid for Aged, Blind and Disabled and Medicaid for Family & Children case records should contain documentation that verifications were done in preparation of the application and these items will agree to reports in the NC FAST system. In this process, documentation should be present and agree back to the records in the NC FAST system. Any items discovered in the process should be considered resources and explained within the documentation.
Condition: There were eleven (11) technical errors discovered during our procedures that resources in the county documentation and those same resources contained in NC FAST were not the same amounts or files containing resources were not properly documented to be considered countable or non-countable. The errors were as follows: Two (2) cases did not have accurate budget calculations, Five (5) cases had a failure to complete at least one compliance component, Three (3) cases contained an inaccurate resource calculation, One (1) cases contained an inaccurate needs unit calculation.
Questioned Costs: There was no affect to eligibility and there were no questioned costs.
Context: Of the 390,498 cases, we examined 138 Medicaid applicants to re-determine eligibility. These findings were disclosed in a separately issued spreadsheet to the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services and are being reported with the financial statement audit as it relates to Medicaid administrative cost compliance audit.
Effect: For those certifications/re-certifications there was a chance that information was not properly documented and reconciled to NC FAST which affect countable resource and a participant could have been approved for benefits that they were not eligible.
Cause: Ineffective record keeping and ineffective case review process, incomplete documentation, and incorrect application of rules for purposes of determining eligibility.
Identification of a repeat finding: This is a repeat finding from the immediate previous audit, 2022-001.
Recommendation: Files should be reviewed internally to ensure proper documentation is in place for eligibility. Workers should be retrained on what files should contain and the importance of complete and accurate record keeping. We recommend that all files include online verifications, documented resources of income and those amounts agree to information in NC FAST.
Views of responsible officials and planned corrective actions: The County agrees with the finding. Supervisors will perform second party reviews to ensure proper documentation is contained in files to support eligibility determinations. Workers will be retrained on what information should be maintained in case files, the importance of complete and accurate record keeping, and reserve calculations.