Missouri State Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick says the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services has repeatedly failed to address audit concerns involving oversight of the Child and Adult Care Food Program.
He's now asking the USDA to weigh in on whether the state's administration of the program meets federal expectations.
“The department's response is that we're doing everything that the federal government requires us to do," Fitzpatrick says. "And so, the letter we sent to the USDA was really just saying, listen, you guys need to give us some clarification on it if this is something you're okay with.”
Fitzpatrick says state audits this year found erroneous or unsupported reimbursements accounted for 12% of the meal claims tested, and Fitzpatrick says the USDA needs to take a closer look.
“A 12% overpayment or error rate on the payments just in the sample that we did would indicate a 7 to $8 million annual waste of money," Fitzpatrick explains. "That's the goal is to get USDA to weigh in and make a decision on this issue.”
Fitzpatrick was asked whether the findings could put future federal funding for the program at risk.
“I don't know what the federal government is going to do. And that's why we sent the letter., Fitzpatrick says. "We sent the letter because we needed to make a decision on how they want to handle this moving forward. And it’s explained to them in the letter what we are seeing as the weaknesses in this program that they need to address.”
Fitzpatrick says his goal is to improve oversight of the program, which state audits have cited for three consecutive years.
Missourinet