Finding Text
2023-003
Federal Program Name: Health Center Program Cluster
Federal Agency U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
CFDA Title and Number Health Center Program Cluster, CFDA 93.224 and 93.527
Criteria or Specific Requirement: Special Tests and Provisions - The Organization must prepare and apply a sliding fee discount schedule so that amounts owed for health center services by eligible patients are adjusted (discounted) based on the patient’s ability to pay.
Condition: Application of the sliding fee discount was not appropriately applied.
Questioned Costs: No
Context: The Organization establishes and maintains internal controls over the application of the sliding fee discounts applied in accordance with its policies so that eligible patients receive discounts based on their ability to pay. During the course of the audit, there were four errors out of 60 in the application of the sliding fee discount. The sample selected was not a statistically valid sample.
Effect: Patients were billed incorrect amounts.
Cause: Internal controls surrounding application of the sliding fee discount were not adequately applied to ensure that discounts were appropriately applied.
Repeat Findings: Yes
Recommendation: We recommend that the Organization evaluate its review processes and controls for the application of the sliding fee discount to ensure that all information collected from patients is reviewed and the appropriate slide is processed.
Views of Responsible Officials and Planned Corrective Action: We concur. The impacted accounts have subsequently been corrected or are in process to be corrected. Management continues to evaluate current controls related to the application of the sliding fee discount to ensure that appropriate review is completed and discounts are applied correctly.