Audit finds Delaware is mostly compliant spending $4.2B in federal funds; Violations found
Delaware responsibly managed most of the more than $4.2 billion it received in federal funds during the 2024 fiscal year, according to a newly released audit from Delaware State Auditor Lydia E. York. The findings are part of the state's annual Delaware Uniform Guidance Single Audit.
However, while the audit found widespread compliance, it also uncovered serious issues and violations in several major programs.
The State Auditor's Office described the audit as a key tool for promoting transparency in how federal funds are used to deliver essential public services, especially in areas like public health, education and social welfare.
The audit examined how state agencies handled federal funding streams across 17 major federal programs, including Medicaid, food assistance, disaster relief and public health efforts. Funding from these programs covers a broad range of areas, such as education, affordable housing, clean water, child care and pandemic recovery.
Agencies included in the review were the Department of Labor, Department of Health and Social Services, Delaware Emergency Management Agency and the Office of the Governor. Some entities, such as the Delaware State Housing Authority and Delaware State University, were not part of this audit because they are subject to separate evaluations under the same federal guidelines.
Despite overall compliance, auditors flagged material weaknesses, significant deficiencies and compliance-related issues in five key programs.
The five programs with notable findings include:
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program cluster
Unemployment insurance
Coronavirus state and local fiscal recovery funds
Coronavirus capital projects fund
Activities to support state, tribal, local and territorial health department response to public health or health care crises
A total of nine programs were found to be out of compliance with federal audit standards, including major services such as the Children's Health Insurance Program, or CHIP, and Medicaid. The findings come as Congress debates possible budget cuts and legal battles continue over the future of federal aid programs.
In a statement, York defended the federal funding supporting these programs, emphasizing that the required audit is meant to promote service improvement, rather than drastic reductions to vital public services and jobs.
TBD: Medicaid funding battle threatens Delaware's health care system, local leaders warn
One of the most critical findings involved the state's Unemployment Insurance program. Auditors were unable to verify how funds from the Unemployment Trust Fund were spent, due to a lack of documentation from the Delaware Department of Labor.
As previously reported, former unemployment insurance administrator Michael Brittingham was found to have embezzled more than $181,000 from the trust fund, in 2023. He died by suicide shortly after an internal criminal investigation began in April of that year.
Ahead of the audit's release, the Delaware Department of Labor acknowledged ongoing issues and pledged to take action to rebuild public trust. In a statement, Secretary of Labor Lakresha Moultrie announced the department is putting corrective measures in place to strengthen internal controls and ensure compliance with both state and federal standards.
Officials also committed to providing regular public updates to maintain transparency throughout the improvement process.
You can contact staff reporter Anitra Johnson at ajohnson@delawareonline.com.
This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: State audit report Delaware mostly compliant in managing federal funds
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Missouri continues to lag behind most states in children's health, report finds
(Rebecca Rivas/Missouri Independent). Missouri ranked in the bottom third of all states for children's health, according to a report released Monday — due in part to a high rate of child and teen deaths. The annual Kids Count Data Book from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, which used data from 2023, evaluated all states on four metrics of child well-being: health, economic well-being, education, and family and community. Missouri ranked near the middle of states for overall child well-being, at 27th out of 50, weighed down by poor performance in health and education. Missouri's rankings in the four categories were: 13th in economic well-being, 33rd in education, 35th in health And 25th in family & community. 'Children's health remains an area of concern,' noted a press release Monday from Family and Community Trust, the Missouri-based nonprofit partner to Kids Count. Only nine states had higher rates of child and teen deaths in 2023 than Missouri, one of the factors considered in the health ranking. (Those were: Mississippi, Louisiana, New Mexico, Alabama, Tennessee, Arkansas, Alaska, Oklahoma and Montana.) Missouri generally ranks among the states with the highest rate of firearm deaths for kids. Firearms became the leading cause of kids' deaths in the United States in 2020, surpassing car accidents. While the national average in 2023 was 29 child and teen deaths per 100,000, that number was 37 deaths per 100,000 in Missouri. The national average rose overall in 2023. The report notes that while covid deaths contributed to the increase, the rise was largely due to rising firearm deaths and drug overdoses, particularly among teens ages 15 to 19. Also bringing Missouri's health ranking down: Missouri's rate of low-birth weight babies increased in 2023 from 2019 and is above the national average. Other factors helped Missouri's score. For one, Missouri has seen major improvements in children's insurance coverage since the state implemented Medicaid expansion in 2021. The rate of uninsured kids fell from 7% in 2019 to 5% in 2023, which is now on par with the national average. Nationally, Missouri saw among the sharpest declines in uninsured people overall from 2019 to 2023 with the expansion of Medicaid. Those gains could be threatened by Congress' budget proposal to reduce Medicaid spending in part by imposing more barriers to care. Teen births in the state have gone down, in line with national trends — though the state's average is still above the national one. The rate of overweight or obese kids has also improved in Missouri and is down to 31% of kids in 2023, on par with the national average. The rate of kids in poverty declined to 14% in the state in 2023, below the 16% national average. Missouri's education ranking slipped in recent years. In 2023, 77% of Missouri eighth graders were not proficient at math, according to the report, which is nearly 10 percentage points worse than 2019 and is worse than the national average. The press release from Family and Community Trust said the data show a 'continuing need to invest in education in Missouri.' SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Bill targets NJ's worst nursing homes with new penalties
New Jersey nursing homes that routinely receive low scores would face greater sanctions from state regulators, including the possibility of forced closure, under a bill making its way through Trenton. The measure targets nursing homes that have scored one star on a federal rating system in two or more consecutive quarters — a hallmark sign that the homes' owners are likely misusing large portions of taxpayer funds intended for care, State Comptroller Kevin Walsh said at a legislative hearing on June 9. "They don't get to be one-star nursing homes because the nurse is inexperienced or the administrator is inexperienced," said Walsh, whose staff has investigated nursing home fraud for years. "The reality is poor-quality nursing homes are usually in the condition they're in because of corruption and fraud."The hearing comes on the heels of an investigation by AARP into New Jersey nursing home finances. The organization found that from 2021 to 2023, nursing home owners paid $2 billion to companies in which the owners had a stake. This amounted to $285 million over federal guidelines. A frequent practice is that a nursing home owner uses a corporation that owns the property to charge "unrestricted rent and lease fees" to the nursing home using Medicaid dollars to pay themselves, the AARP report said. This includes many other nursing home operations such as management fees, dietary services and staffing. "There's a lot of money going to places it shouldn't," Walsh said. Under the bill, S1951, nursing homes with one-star ratings in two consecutive quarters would be subject to several penalties from the state Health Department including barring admission to new Medicaid residents, limiting the number of Medicaid enrollees and reducing payments under a quality incentive program. More: What happens when an elderly relative can't live alone? What to know about aging in NJ The penalties get tougher if a nursing home has a one-star rating for three consecutive quarters. They include prohibiting the nursing home from admitting any new resident and removing current residents who are Medicaid enrollees. Some lawmakers said the bill doesn't go far enough and that it should examine nursing homes that receive more than one star (on a five-star scale) but still perform poorly. 'What this bill will do is walk [owners] away from providing the worst-quality care,' Walsh said. 'This bill will not prevent every scam. This bill will not prevent fraud, waste and abuse in all cases. It will discourage nursing homes that have made a business decision to siphon money away." Of New Jersey's 350 nursing homes, 15 had been one-star facilities for two or more years, Walsh said. Those facilities care for 1,850 residents and received $310 million in Medicaid payments from 2017 to 2019. Walsh said it took his staff two years to uncover the labyrinth of shell companies and financial transactions that exposed misdeeds at a South Jersey nursing home. About 57% of New Jersey nursing home residents are covered by Medicaid, taxpayer-funded insurance for low-income people. The average daily Medicaid payment to a nursing home is $193 per resident. The star rating system by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services was devised as a way for families to compare nursing homes and scrutinize the ones that continually score poorly. It is calculated based on health inspections, staffing ratios and other quality measures. But information on each facility is still limited. "I know more about the used car I buy than a nursing home," Sen. Joseph Vitale, chair of the Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee, said at the hearing. The bill was approved by the committee. Nursing home trade groups opposed the measure but did not offer anyone to testify at the hearing. This article originally appeared on Bill targets NJ's worst nursing homes with new penalties
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Opinion - Tariffs are raising health care costs and putting patients at risk
Lately, my bi-weekly calls with my 24-year-old daughter, a medical assistant preparing for med school, are starting to sound more like supply chain audits. She tells me which items are running low at her clinic and how the team is scrambling to provide quality care to patients. Having been raised by a parent who managed global supply chains, she knows these aren't just inventory issues — they are cracks in a fragile health care system now under further strain from President Trump's tariffs and the uncertainty surrounding them. Last year alone, the U.S. imported more than $75 billion in medical devices and supplies. While headlines have focused on potentially higher costs for pharmaceuticals and high-tech medical equipment, the more urgent and often overlooked concern is the availability of basic, everyday lifesaving supplies. Gloves, syringes, sterile water, IV fluids and even diapers may seem mundane, but they are the lifeblood of clinical care. Hospitals spend approximately 25 percent of their budget on these high-volume items. Most of these essentials are imported. For example, two-thirds of non-disposable face masks and 94 percent of plastic gloves used in U.S. health care settings come from China. Already impacted by tariffs implemented last year to counter low-cost imports, these products are now becoming even more expensive. Enteral syringes used to deliver medication or nutrition through feeding tubes are now subject to a staggering 245 percent tariff, according to one group purchasing organization. If trade tensions continue to escalate, we could see a return to pandemic-era supply shortages — or worse. As hospitals prepare for these impacts, it's their patients who will bear the repercussions. The American Hospital Association recently reported that 82 percent of health care leaders expect tariff-related price hikes to increase hospital costs by at least 15 percent within six months. One major health system in Washington projected that tariffs could increase annual costs by $10 to $25 million. With Medicaid reimbursement rates set by the government and private insurance reimbursement rates held in place by contracts, hospitals can't easily pass on these increases. Instead, they absorb the costs and find other cuts, like reducing staffing or delaying upgrades. That could mean longer wait times, postponed procedures and ultimately, worse outcomes for patients. Rural hospitals and community providers already operating on razor-thin margins will feel these burdens most acutely. Close to 200 rural hospitals have closed in the past two decades, and nearly 700, or close to one-third of all additional rural hospitals, are at risk of closing in the near future. When policymakers impose sweeping trade measures without fully considering downstream effects, the entire health care system suffers the consequences. The disruption often costs more than the policy itself, in both dollars and diminished patient care. Health care policy is essential for a productive economy, which is the main goal of the president's tariffs. Medical supplies should be exempted from tariffs. This would help to ensure more consistent pricing and ensure Americans have access to the health care essentials they need. Policymakers can also help bring manufacturing for some of these products back home by investing in more public-private partnerships and supporting infrastructure and workforce development to encourage companies to make these goods in the U.S. Finally, the federal and state governments can reengineer the procurement processes for Medicare and Medicaid, and enact measures to ensure more efficient practices in the private sector to enable competition and fair prices. Pharmacy benefit managers and Group Purchasing Organizations need to work on behalf of the patients, hospitals and clinics to better manage costs, similar to processes in other supply chain systems. Overall, policymakers must understand that while tariffs may shift economic leverage, they also shift risk onto patients. My daughter is learning this lesson on the front lines. She went into medicine to deliver care. Lately, and too often, she's just delivering bad news. Jack Buffington is Supply Chain Management Professor at the University of Denver. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
