Ohio audit details $46.8B in federal spending, identifies 24 findings

Ohio Auditor Keith Faber

Ohio Auditor Keith Faber

Auditors questioned $2.85 million in costs and identified 24 findings among seven state agencies that administered federally funded programs in fiscal year 2022.

The state administered 353 federal programs from 25 federal agencies with total spending of $46.8 billion from July 1, 2021, to July 30, 2022, according to the 2022 State of Ohio Single Audit released Thursday by Ohio Auditor Keith Faber. The annual audit is required under federal law to ensure that federal funds allocated to Ohio are spent appropriately.

The 24 findings was the lowest it’s been in six years, down from 25 findings in FY 2021, 38 in FY 2020, and 33 in FY 2019.

Total spending included nearly $29.9 billion from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, of which about $26 billion went to Ohio’s Medicaid programs that provides medical care and services for lower-income residents, older adults, people with disabilities, infants and children, pregnant women and others, according to the state auditor’s office.

Auditors questioned costs related to Medicaid, regular and pandemic unemployment insurance, and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program including:

  • Nearly $2.2 million attributed to insufficient documentation that reviews or actions were taken as a result of crossmatches of death and prison incarceration records to ensure pandemic unemployment benefits were paid to eligible recipients.
  • $86,076 in questioned pandemic unemployment payments, including duplicate payments, payments exceeding maximum amounts, and payments to ineligible recipients.
  • $591,519 Medicaid benefits paid to ineligible recipients or related to improper capitation payments to managed care providers.
  • $3,629 in incorrectly issued SNAP benefits.

The 2022 State of Ohio Single Audit included two findings for recovery against state employees, one of which had not yet been repaid.