Latest / The Accounting Podcast / Headlines: Maryland Can't Account For $1.4 Billion of Covid Funds

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Headlines: Maryland Can't Account For $1.4 Billion of Covid Funds · The Accounting Podcast

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  I'm Blake Oliver, and you're listening to The Accounting Podcast.
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  An independent audit of Maryland's Department of Health has revealed
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  over 1.4 billion in questionable spending and other alarming fiscal
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  failures during the COVID 19 pandemic.
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  The audit, conducted during the transition from Republican Governor Larry Hogan to
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  newly elected Democratic Governor Wes Moore, exposed severe deficiencies in
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  the health agency's financial practices and stewardship of taxpayer dollars.
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  The audit's findings have raised fears that Maryland taxpayers could end up on
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  the hook for the $1.4 billion funding gap if efforts to recover those funds
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  from the federal government fall short.
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  Among the many issues uncovered, The Health Department delayed and mishandled
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  reimbursement requests from the federal government for COVID expenses.
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  The agency also failed to properly track federal reimbursement
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  payments it received.
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  The audit also found contracting problems, including using a COVID related contract
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  for unrelated work without documenting over 60 million in contractor payments.
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  State Senator Clarence Lamb called it the worst audit he's ever seen.
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  He compared the Health Department's lack of financial documentation to an employee
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  failing to keep receipts and records for business travel reimbursements.
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  Maryland's Secretary of Health, Laura Henrietta Scott, acknowledged the
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  severe issues raised in the audit, which covered a period before she
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  took over the agency's leadership.
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  She said the Department is swiftly taking steps to address the problems.
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  The agency has hired an outside accounting firm to overhaul its fiscal practices.
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  It has also centralized contracting, brought in new leadership, and
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  implemented policies to prevent similar problems in the future.
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  This has been a news update from The Accounting Podcast.
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  I'm Blake Oliver.
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  Thanks for listening.