A recent state audit of the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (DMHAS) found numerous deficiencies, including improper monitoring of providers, faulty tracking of employee overtime, holiday pay and expenditures, and purchasing discrepancies. The Auditors of Public Accounts (APA) made recommendations on 13 findings, 11 of which were noted as repeat offenses.
The audit covered the fiscal year of 2021-2022. Some of the APA’s most notable findings were that DMHAS was missing prior approval for $61,195 worth of overtime paid out that year, had late or still-pending provider audits for providers that received a little over $20 million in state funding, and had missing or improper documentation for over $100,000 worth of purchases.
Republican Senators Heather Somers (Groton), Rob Sampson (Wolcott) and Stephen Harding (Brookfield) released a statement in response, calling it an example of “the continued lack of accountability” of state agencies, labeled as “small ball” by state government.
“Here we see yet another state government agency exhibiting a lack of internal controls on a wide range of issues that impact state taxpayers’ wallets,” read their statement. “11 of the 13 findings from the auditors are repeat findings. In other words, their recommendations were not acted upon.”
The APA found that DMHAS employees worked $105,059,020 worth of overtime in total from June 2021 to June 2022. Auditors found a lack of pre-approval documents on file for $61,195 worth, or 1,174 hours, of overtime.
“The lack of proper documentation and approvals increases the risk for improper overtime payments,” said the APA. “This finding has previously been reported in the last five audit reports covering the fiscal years 2011 through 2020.”
DMHAS noted that while “some type of documentation was available for some of the selected samples,” it did not meet state standards. The agency attributed much of the improper documentation to management being left in a “constant scramble to meet patient care staffing minimums, resulting in an unusually high number of overtime shifts, many being last minute add-ons.”
On the issue of provider monitoring, the APA explained that DMHAS must review audit reports from its private service providers within six months of their submission date. The auditors found DMHAS to have reviewed the audit reports of two providers 10 to 11 months after they were submitted, and to have audits for four providers marked as “still pending” 13 to 14 months after they were submitted. Two of these providers received a little over $20 million in state funding. Additionally, DMHAS failed to ensure that three providers promptly returned $223,268 in unexpended funds.
“The failure to promptly review audit reports increases the risk for the improper use of funds,” read the audit. “There is also additional risk providers may not return unexpended funds.”
The auditors noted that issues “appear to be the result of staffing shortages and key personnel turnover in the internal audit unit,” though it also states that the issue was previously reported in the last four audits, from 2013-2020. DMHAS agreed with the finding, blaming “the COVID pandemic, division retirement, division leadership turnover, extended leave of personnel and new federal and state funding legislation,” for delays.
“The department is in the process of hiring a new division director and is bringing current the review of provider audit reports,” DMHAS said.
On the issue of purchasing, the APA reviewed 90 transactions made by 15 different DMHAS cardholders. Of these 90 purchases, 18 of them (worth $29,008) were made without pre-approval, another four (worth $7,070) “appear to have been intentionally split to avoid cardholder limits,” and nine of them (worth $9,009) had inadequate supporting documentation.
Additionally, the auditors found “no evidence employees received the goods or services for 33 transactions totaling $64,305.” DMHAS’s improper purchasing controls represent yet another repeat offense, with the auditors noting the issue has been reported in the last five audits, from 2011-2020.
Another area in which the APA found deficiencies was DMHAS’s payroll transactions. The auditors studied the payroll transactions for 40 employees and found two who were paid $22,346 in total without timesheets on file, four who had improperly charged 47 hours of holiday leave, 16 who were missing annual performance reviews and two who received 42 hours of leave without the proper documentation on file.
“The conditions noted appear to be the result of a lack of management oversight,” said the APA. “This finding has previously been reported, in part, in the last five audit reports covering the fiscal years 2011 through 2020.”
Compensatory time was yet another issue. The auditors found DMHAS to have enrolled 627 employees into the wrong compensatory time plan. Additionally, DMHAS was missing pre-approval for 52 hours worth of compensatory leave taken by seven employees, and missing requests and approvals for 64.5 hours taken by six employees. This too was a repeat finding, with the auditors noting that it had been “previously reported in part” from 2013 through 2020.
The other eight issues noted by the auditors were; faulty contract management, improper monitoring of leave in lieu of accrual time, failure to follow employee separation procedures, inadequate records for working test periods, improper asset reporting, inactive client funds and improperly administered client loans, and missing bank reconciliations.
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