State of Michigan's Efforts to Account for and Monitor Sub-Recipients' Use of Bioterrorism Hospital Preparedness Program Funds

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

Our objectives were to determine whether the Michigan Department of Community Health (State agency): (i) properly recorded, summarized and reported bioterrorism preparedness transactions in accordance with the terms and conditions of the cooperative agreements and (ii) had controls and procedures to monitor sub-recipient expenditures of HRSA funds.  We determined that the State agency generally accounted for program funds in accordance with the terms and conditions of the cooperative agreement. However, the State agency did not segregate expenditures by phase, within phase, or by priority area. State officials indicated that they were establishing procedures to comply with the requirements in the new HRSA Cooperative Agreement Guidance, effective August 31, 2003. We also found the State agency had controls and procedures to monitor sub-recipient expenditures of Program funds.  We recommended the State agency implement procedures to comply with the new requirements effective August 31, 2003 and begin tracking expenditures by priority area, critical benchmark, and by funds allocated to hospitals and other health care entities. The State agency concurred with our findings and recommendations.