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Corrective-action plan to comply with ODH order
YOUNGSTOWN
The Youngstown City Health District is preparing a corrective-action plan to comply with an order by the Ohio Department of Health to improve internal controls and other compliance matters cited in a 2010 audit.
The ODH is not saying the money was spent incorrectly, Erin Bishop, acting health commissioner, said of the $87,992,28 in questioned costs involving the sexually transmitted disease and HIV prevention programs.
What is being questioned, and what will be addressed by the action plan, is the way the expenditures were reported, Bishop said.
The reason for the discrepancies is the city finance department, through which the health department’s records are run, did not have the new state-required financial system in place in 2010, the year the 2011 audit examined, she said.
Bishop said she has asked other health departments for “best practices” in reporting grant expenditures and is working with the city’s law and financial departments, and ODH, on the plan, which is due April 5.
Failure to meet the deadline could endanger future ODH grants, Bishop said.
In his letter to Youngs-town Mayor Charles Sammarone, who is president of the city board of health, Kevin Kent, ODH compliance team manager, said the health district is required to respond, in writing, to the audit report, including reports on internal accounting controls, the allowability of questioned costs, and other compliance matters.
Further, Kent wrote, “You’re CAP must be sufficient to provide ODH with assurance that the identified problems are unlikely to occur again.”
Bishop said the health department is developing policies and procedures that will enable it to comply with ODH reporting requirements and also with the city’s new finance system.