Finding 517923 (2024-006)

Condition: Questioned Cost: Context: Effect: Cause: Recommendation: Views of responsible officials and planned corrective actions: US Department of Health and Human Services Passed through the NC Department of Health and Human Services Food and Nutrition Services (FNS) Cluster AL # 10.551 and 10.561 Finding: 2024-006 FNS Eligibility Determinations SIGNIFICANT DEFICENCY Eligibility Criteria: Per Section 200.303 of the Uniform Grant Guidance, a non-federal entity must establish and maintain effective internal control over the Federal award that provides reasonable assurance that the non-federal entity is managing the Federal award in compliance with Federal statutes, regulations, and the terms and conditions of the Federal award. The State has provided policies and procedures to ensure that the County is meeting the federal guidance, relevant policies are: Food and Nutrition Services Policy 305 describes the verification sources and requirements and the FNS units primary responsibility for providing documentary evidence to support statements on applications and recertifications and procedures required if the statements by applicant/beneficiary are questionable. Food and Nutrition Services Policy 300 describes the sources of income countable and not countable to the household for determining financial eligibility. Food and Nutrition Services Policy 310 describes the procedures related to verifying changes in income (i.e. termination, end of contract, temporary, etc.). Ineffective communication between departments within the Department of Social Services. One area within DSS received State communications that applicants would no longer be eligible for SSI benefits and the County needed to conduct an ex-parte review. This information was not shared with other departments in DSS from which the recipient was also receiving benefits. Any State communications related to applicants/beneficiaries should be shared with all areas from which the participant receives benefits. State files should be reviewed internally to ensure all actions have been properly closed and the corrective action has been taken. Workers should be retrained on what process needs to be followed when State communications are received. The County agrees with the finding. See Corrective Action Plan in the following section. Section III - Federal Award Findings and Questioned Costs (Continued) There were 1 applicants/beneficiaries not reviewed timely and determined to be eligible for Medicaid when their SSI benefits were terminated. There were no known affects to eligibility and there were no known questioned costs. We examined 60 cases from of a total of 997,008 Medicaid claims from the Medicaid beneficiary report provided by NC Department of Health and Human Services to re-determine eligibility. These findings are being reported with the financial statement audit as it relates to Medicaid administrative cost compliance audit. The County did not initiate ex-parte review timely, therefore, no eligibility review was completed in the required time period. The lack of follow up and certification lead to applicants receiving Medicaid benefits for which they were not eligible.Condition: Questioned Cost: Context: Effect: Cause: Recommendation: Views of responsible officials and planned corrective actions: Program Name: Medical Assistance Program (Medicaid; Title XIX) AL # 93.778 None reported. Files should be reviewed internally to ensure proper information is in place and necessary procedures are taken when determine eligibility. The results found or documentation made in case notes should clearly indicate what actions were performed and the results of those actions. The County should provide training of management and staff on the program's eligibility requirements, proper case review process, and required verifications for eligibility. Also, the County should ensure that their formal internal review process is adequately completed to identify and correct errors in case reviews. The County agrees with the finding. See Corrective Action Plan in the following section. Section III - Federal Award Findings and Questioned Costs (Continued) There were a total of 5 errors found in our testing: 1 instances where there was an inadequate documentation of the purchasing and preparing food separatelyrequirement for a Simplified Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) case; 1 instance where the caseworker did not request adequate information from the recipient related to self-employment income; 2 instances where the caseworker did not request adequate information from the recipient related to an expense deduction; 1 instance where an incorrect expense deduction was entered in NCFAST. There were no known affects to eligibility and there were no known questioned costs. We examined 25 of 12,226 FNS/SNAP cases from a report of all active FNS/SNAP beneficiaries provided by the County's Department of Social Services. The finding is being reported with the financial statement audit as it relates to FNS administrative cost compliance audit. For those certifications/re-certifications there was a chance that information was not properly documented and reconciled to NC FAST and a participant could have been approved for benefits for which they were not eligible.