Selected reports and information published by New York State's Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli
Issued during the week ending April 19, 2013 [Click on text highlighted in bold to access the full report]
Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services, Contract with Daytop Village, Inc (Follow-Up) (2011-F-18)
The Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services (OASAS) oversees programs for preventing and treating alcohol and substance abuse. Many of these programs are provided by not-for-profit organizations. One such contract is with Daytop Village Inc. under which OASAS paid Daytop about $97 million through the end of 2009. In an initial report, auditors found that Daytop did not fulfill its fiscal responsibilities under the contract and as a result, OASAS paid Daytop $11.5 million more than it was entitled to. In a follow-up report, auditors found OASAS has made progress correcting the problems.
Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services, Chemical Dependency Program Payments to Selected Contractors in New York City (Follow-Up) (2011-F-17)
In an initial report, auditors examined $8.4 million in payments made to the two contractors and found that neither contractor could provide documentation showing that the expenses reimbursed by these payments related to authorized contract activities. Auditors recommended OASAS recover the $8.4 million. In a follow-up report, auditors determined OASAS has made progress in addressing the matters.
New York State Health Insurance Program, United HealthCare: Compensation and Benefit Costs for the Empire Plan for the Period January 1, 2008 through December 31, 2010 (2011-S-50)
The New York State Health Insurance Program provides health insurance coverage to more than 1.2 million active and retired state employees, participating local government employees and school district employees and their dependents. NYSHIP includes several health plan options, of which the Empire Plan is the largest. The Department of Civil Service contracts with United HealthCare (United) to process and pay medical and surgical claims for services provided to Empire Plan members. The state’s contract with United requires all administrative costs charged to the state to be related to United’s administration of the Empire Plan’s medical/surgical program. In addition, a state contractor must maintain complete and accurate records to support its claims for six years. United did not always maintain certain source and summary data to support the charges for time worked by claims and call center staff assigned to the Empire Plan. United also did not have a uniform method to track and account for the time worked by claims center staff.
Department of Health, Medicaid Payments for Excessive Dental Services (Follow-Up) (2012-F-30)
An initial audit report examined Medicaid payments for routine dental services provided during the period September 1, 2004 through August 31, 2009. The audit identified $40 million of excessive dental services that exceeded certain frequency limits. Auditors also determined that if DOH adjusted its Medicaid fees for these services to the averages of other comparable states, it could have saved more than $60 million during the audit period. In a follow-up report, auditors found DOH officials have made progress in addressing several of the issues previously identified. In particular, changes to payment schedules for routine dental services saved Medicaid more than $11 million. However, additional actions still need to be taken.
Department of Motor Vehicles, Motor Vehicle Financial Security and Safety Responsibility Acts Statement of Assessable Expenses for the Three Fiscal Years Ended March 31, 2011 (2012-S-25)
New York State’s Vehicle and Traffic Law stipulates that the DMV commissioner and the Office of the State Comptroller shall ascertain the total amount of expenses the Department of Motor Vehicles incurs in its administration of the Motor Vehicle Financial Security Act and the Motor Vehicle Safety Responsibility Act. Auditors found the statements for those acts reflect the expenditures of the two acts for the three fiscal years ended March 31, 2011, in accordance with cash basis accounting.
Also: Statewide Travel Audits of the following entities were issued
As part of a statewide initiative to determine whether the use of travel money by selected government employees was appropriate, auditors looked at travel expenses for the highest-cost travelers in the state for the following state entities:
New York State Department of Financial Services, Selected Employee Travel Expenses (2012-S-77)
Auditors found ten of the highest-cost travelers worked at the New York State Department of Financial Services and had travel costs totaling $1,248,144. Auditors also examined other travel totaling $627,902. Auditors were only able to audit two of the three years of travel expenditures totaling $1,876,046 because the DFS was not required to and did not maintain records prior to April 2009. The travel expenses for the 27 employees selected for audit were documented and adhered to state travel rules and regulations. Most of the employees were either insurance or bank examiners; while the rest were executive managers and administrative staff. The majority of travel expenses for the 27 department employees included lodging, airfare, train fare, fuel charges and meal reimbursements.
Division of Military and Naval Affairs, Selected Employee Travel Expenses (2012-S-130)
Auditors identified two travel cards used by staff at the Division of Military and Naval Affairs as high risk due to substantial charges for car rentals. The total costs associated with these travel cards was $118,843. Auditors found that the travel expenses for the two travel cards selected for audit were documented and adhered to state travel rules and regulations.
State University of New York, University at Buffalo - Selected Employee Travel Expenses (2012-S-135)
Twelve of the state’s highest cost travelers worked at the University at Buffalo (University) and had travel costs totaling $3,593,928. We also audited one employee with an outlier in fuel expenses that totaled $45,882. In total, auditors examined $3,639,810 of the University’s travel payments. They found the travel expenses for the 13 university employees selected for audit were documented and adhered to state travel rules and regulations. The 13 employees are athletic coaches or administrative staff whose travel consisted primarily of team travel to athletic events.