FOR RELEASE:

Comptroller DiNapoli Releases Audits

New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli today announced that the following audits have been issued:

• Department of Civil Service - New York State Health Insurance Program: Duplicate Payments for Inpatient Professional Fees (2007-S-93): Auditors examined payments made by the Empire Plan for physician fees relating to mental health and substance abuse inpatient services. Auditors found $101,700 in duplicate payments.


• Department of Health - Oversight of Adult Care Facilities (2006-S-7): Auditors examined whether the Department was inspecting adult care facilities and investigating complaints about these facilities as required. Auditors found the Department generally completed inspections within the required time frame. However, it did not always start inspections within the required time frame, or issue inspection reports and investigate complaints in a timely manner.


• Metropolitan Transportation Authority - Safety of Grade Level Railroad Crossings (Follow-Up Report) (2007-F-31): In a previous audit, auditors observed numerous pedestrians and motorists (including a school bus) who failed to heed railroad crossing warning devices and committed other safety violations. When auditors conducted a follow-up audit, auditors found MTA officials implemented most of the recommendations, but additional actions were still needed.


• State University of New York - Maritime College: Controls Over Selected Payroll Practices (2007-S-107): Auditors examined the college’s controls over payroll changes and found that they were effective but found other areas for improvement.


• Department of Health - Determining Medicaid Eligibility (Follow-Up Report) (2007-F-49): After finding $6.3 million in Medicaid payments for recipients who were likely not eligible for the services, including payments after the recipients’ dates of death, auditors found in a follow up audit that DOH had implemented all of the auditors’ recommendations to address the problems previously identified.


• Division of the Lottery - Controls Over the Selection and Licensing of Lottery Retailers (Follow-Up Report) (2008-F-1): In a previous audit, auditors examined the Division’s controls over the licensing process and found that certain improvements were needed. When auditors followed up on whether improvements had been made, they found the Division had generally implemented the previous audit’s recommendations.


• Higher Education Services Corporation - Tuition Assistance Program Brooklyn Institute of Business Technology (2007-T-1): During the 2003-2004 through 2005-2006 academic years, the Brooklyn Institute of Business Technology certified $2.7 million in Tuition Assistance Program awards. Auditors disallowed $1,311,847 million of these awards, as well as $25,734, for awards for previous academic years because students were incorrectly certified as eligible for the awards.


• Insurance Department - Assessment of Costs to Administer Insurance Department Operations (2007-S-66): The Insurance Department assesses insurance carriers operating in New York State to fund operating costs of programs associated with the Department. Auditors examined the Department’s financial records and found they fairly presented the costs of administering these programs.


• State University of New York - Upstate Medical Center: Selected General Security and Wireless Access Controls (Follow-Up Report) (2008-F-3): Auditors found that Upstate Medical Center had acted on the auditors’ recommendations from a previous audit.


• Battery Park City Authority - Internal Controls Over Contracting (Follow-Up Report) (2007-F-23): A previous audit determined that the Authority did not comply with its guidelines for soliciting and awarding contracts on a competitive basis. In this follow up audit, auditors found the Authority had made substantial progress in addressing the problems identified, but additional actions were still needed.


• Empire State Development Corporation - Oversight of Subsidiary Operations (Follow-Up Report) (2007-F-51): A previous audit found ESDC needed to do a better job of managing subsidiary operations. When auditors followed up on these matters with ESDC officials, auditors found that they had made some progress in implementing our audit recommendations, but additional progress was still needed.

The reports are available by clicking on the report name or by calling the Press Office at (518) 474-4015.

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