An Oregon state audit released on Wednesday found that the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) could strengthen its calculation method for reporting child enrollment and, while Healthy Kids advertising transactions were generally accurate and proper, could do more to strengthen controls over these expenditures.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services offered states additional funds for
increasing enrollment of uninsured children in Medicaid above a baseline amount and forstreamlining the enrollment and renewal processes. The Office of Healthy Kids began an outreach effort to increase enrollment, earning $10.5 million in additional funds for federal fiscal year 2010.
The auditors reviewed the calculation of enrollment used in applying for additional federal funds and found that OHA analysts had included some children who were not eligible to be counted.
As a result, Oregon was credited with $4.6 million more than warranted. The Oregon Health Authority had not yet received these funds and managers promptly notified the federalgovernment of the correction.
“The Office of Healthy Kids earned extra funding through its efforts, but not as much as OHA had originally calculated,” said Audits Director Gary Blackmer. “Greater scrutiny of its enrollment reporting process can reduce these kinds of errors in the future.”
The audit also examined the expenditures incurred by the Office of Healthy Kids for its advertising and outreach effort and found controls generally ensured accurate and propertransactions for the advertising expenditures. The audit noted some areas where stronger controls could be implemented to improve tracking and recording processes.
“This is a worthy program providing Oregon children with healthcare,” said Secretary of State Kate Brown. “I am confident the recommendations made will improve processes within the Office of Healthy Kids.”
The report, including the agency response, can be found at ww.sos.state.or.us/audits.
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