Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Before I get to what this post is really about, let me share this TV tidbit first. My new favorite TV show is Fugitive Strike Force on ID. This is where it is like The Fugitive, only better, imho.

OK, so from The Bureaucracy Files, we’re working on our response to the audit we endured before Christmas last year. Yes, it’s May. The deadline is next week so we’re not late! I had no quibble with most of the findings in the finance area. However, I have a large quibble with one particular item and I have been tasked to write the response.

In a nutshell, the auditors said we were not compliant in one certain area when it comes to obligating funds. We were told that we needed to obligate the funds at the time the service (emergency medical) was authorized by us. We were not doing this. Instead we were waiting to obligate the funds when we got an actual invoice. While this isn’t how it is supposed to be done technically, we didn’t see any other way to be compliant with other policies that contradict the obligation policy. So now we’re obligating at the time the service is authorized and I think we’re now non-compliant with about 3 or 4 other policies.

Apparently, the powers that be in procurement and finance have, for years, debated how to handle emergency medical and have never come to any conclusion when reading the FAR.

The other wrinkle is that we don’t pay full rates for most medical services. The amounts we obligate are no where near the amounts we pay. And we pay out of three computer systems right now (check, ACH, and credit card), all of which have different use requirements. It’s a complete mess and only getting more messy with the switch to ACH from checks - these two systems are vastly different.

There is no good solution because of the FAR. The FAR dictates all and it doesn’t cover emergencies of this nature or of this scale.

*sigh*