Audit of Contracted Human Services, July 2018

6 |  A u d i t o f C o n t r a c t e d H u m a n S e r v i c e s  J u l y 2 0 1 8 1. Accuracy of the payment request calculation. Observation  Agencies participating in the Contracted Human Services program are required to submit  monthly or quarterly payment requests to the Health and Human Services Department. The  rate of reimbursement and the services eligible for reimbursement are established in the  executed contract between the agency and the County.   Of the 26 agencies tested, two agencies each signed a contract that provided payment based on  a rate times the number of beds multiplied by the number of days in the month. Based off audit  procedures performed, it was observed that one of the agencies was requesting payment based  on 31 days for each month as opposed to the actual days. For instance, the month of February  would have been calculated as having 31 days as opposed to only 28 and thus the payment for  that month was erroneously calculated as being larger than the correct calculation. This was  identified prior to the audit and the agency’s July reimbursement was adjusted accordingly.  The other agency was dividing the total contract award amount by 12 (months in the year) and  requesting that amount as reimbursement.  This resulted in the two agencies receiving excess payments for certain months (most notably  would be February which only has 28 days).  Recommendations To ensure compliance with contractual agreements, requested reimbursements should be  reviewed for accuracy prior to approval by Health and Human Services staff in accordance with  the contractual agreement.   Management Response  Sarasota County Human Services manages over $9.7 million through service contracts with 37  agencies and 91 programs serving residents in need of critical services across eight human  services systems.  All requested reimbursements for these programmatic services are reviewed  by a contract manager and supervisor for accuracy before submission to Clerk‐Finance for  payment, and this process will continue. Beginning with fiscal year 2018, payment request  documentation was modified to allow for an additional review point.  The specific contractual  unit of service to be paid per program is now detailed on the payment request form to bring  the contractual unit of service to the attention of the provider and contracted human service  staff.