FARGO, ND (Valley News Live) – $7.29 million has been made available to the North Dakota DHHS to use in the Workforce Retention Program.
Not only did the state audit office find that much of the money was misused, it is also not clear whether the program achieved its stated goal.
Had the Workforce Retention Program operated as designed, it would have paid approximately $2,100 to health workers who provided home and community-based services to Medicaid beneficiaries.
Instead, the auditor found that the money was often paid out to health care workers who were not eligible for the program or was withheld by companies that did not pay the funds to their eligible employees.
In addition, DHHS has not kept useful statistics to show whether the extra funding has kept people in the health care system. In fact, during the period measured by the state comptroller, 32% of those who were eligible for the subsidies left the profession.
The overall audit uncovered other concerns. There were no allegations of widespread medication abuse — also known as theft — but there was considerable evidence of lax handling practices that could easily lead to theft. The report also found that DHHS consistently failed to conduct face-to-face interviews with children suspected of abuse within the required timeframe.
The department has acknowledged all these shortcomings and stated that it has some plans to counteract these negative consequences.
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