Audit: Maryland Dept. of Health unable to provide documentation it received $1.4B in owed federal funding

The Maryland Department of Health is unable to document whether it received $1.4 billion due from the federal government, according to an audit of the agency released Tuesday that revealed weaknesses in its procedures for monitoring how funds are received and spent.

If the department isn’t able to recover that money, the state may be on the hook for it, said Tuesday’s report, which was released by the Office of Legislative Audits — a subsidiary of the Maryland General Assembly’s Department of Legislative Services.

According to a statewide review of budget closeout transactions for fiscal year 2022 released by the audit office in January, the Department of Health was unable to account for approximately $3.5 billion in federal revenue.

Tuesday’s audit found that $2.1 billion had been accounted for by April of this year, but not the $1.4 billion.

The discrepancy came about because, to balance its ledgers, the state agency was counting federal money that it had yet to receive. It’s unclear whether the department did not submit requests for reimbursement or if it did not track the requests it submitted.

“This audit report is the state’s worst nightmare when it comes to the mismanagement … of the Maryland Department of Health under the prior administration,” said Sen. Clarence Lam, a Democrat representing Anne Arundel and Howard counties. “I’ve been the chair of the Joint Audits Committee for four years now and this is the worst audit I’ve ever seen, by far.”

https://www.baltimoresun.com/health/bs-hs-maryland-department-of-health-audit-20231024-b26nxi37gjejbahxyxoukz26pi-story.html

Dirty Larry Hogan