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A recent city audit of contracts
with various HIV treatment and prevention groups during 2009-11 found gaps in
oversight, double-billing mistakes, and other inadequacies. Of the eight
contracts for $3.2 million in HIV services awarded, the sample of three audited
totaled $1.4 million.
Auditors found no evidence of fraud.
However, the public HIV clinic David Power Health Center double-billed $31,561.
Staff members missed some duplicates when they had to manually enter billing,
said Leslee Froehlich, COO of CommUnityCare, the system that includes the
center. A computerized system now in operation catches such errors, and the
amount double-billed will be deducted from future payments, she said. The
second contractor audited, Austin Travis County Integral Care, double-billed
about $3,264. No duplicate billings were found for a contract with AIDS
Services of Austin.
On the city side, contract renewals
lagged and business was conducted without contracts “more than 30 percent of
the time,” the audit said. Data for payment and service monitoring were at
times inaccurate or incomplete, it said. In addition, “prior leadership” at the
Austin/Travis County Health and Human Services Department directed staff
members not to monitor contracts awarding federal money “due to other
priorities,” said the report dated this month.
The health department’s director
since last August, Carlos Rivera, concurred with the audit and said new
procedures being put in place will solve the problems.
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is
dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and
empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV
virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
TOGETHER WE REMAIN STRONG!
