New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli announced today the following audits have been issued:

Research Foundation of the State University of New York: Allocation and Budgetary Controls Over Unrestricted Funds (2012-S-161)

Auditors found the Research Foundation's current methodology for charging SUNY campuses for the costs of central office operations and statewide initiatives the campuses is fair and equitable. In addition, the assessments were calculated properly, and campus officials were satisfied with the services provided by the Research Foundation's central office.

Port Authority of New York and New Jersey: Contracts for Personal and Miscellaneous Services (Follow-Up ) (2013-F-18)

An initial report, issued in July 2011, determined that the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey generally did not have documentation to justify the need for new or renewed contracts for personal and miscellaneous services. In addition, the authority did not provide documentation to support that it periodically reassessed all of its contracts for personal and miscellaneous services. In a follow-up, auditors found port authority officials have made progress in implementing the recommendations contained in the prior audit report. Of the five prior audit recommendations, one was implemented, three were partially implemented and one was not implemented.

New York State Health Insurance Program: Empire BlueCross and BlueShield: Selected Payments for Special Items for the Period January 1, 2012 through June 30, 2012 (2012-S-132)

Auditors found Empire did not have adequate controls to ensure special items (such as implants, drugs, and blood) that are not covered by the standard fee schedules were paid according to contract provisions. As a result, Empire made a net overpayment of $391,894 on 81 of the 100 claims we tested.  Auditors estimate Empire overpaid as much as $3.3 million.

Department of Health: Medicaid Claims Processing Activity October 1, 2008 through March 31, 2009 (Follow-Up) (2013-F-21)

An initial audit, issued in December 2009, examined whether the DOH’s eMedNY system reasonably assured that Medicaid claims were submitted from approved providers, were accurately processed, and resulted in correct provider payments. Auditors were able to identify and prevent a potential $20.3 million overpayment from an incorrect reimbursement rate. Auditors found other overpayments of approximately $1.2 million. In a follow-up, auditors found DOH has made progress in correcting the problems identified in the initial report. However, improvements are still needed.

Department of Health: Overpayments for Medicare Part C Coinsurance Charge (Follow-Up) (2013-F-26)

An initial report, issued in September 2012, examined whether Medicaid made inappropriate payments to medical providers for services rendered to Medicaid recipients enrolled in a Healthfirst Medicare Advantage Plan. Auditors found Healthfirst misreported the cost-sharing liabilities of Medicaid recipients to some of its healthcare providers. Because of the excessive claims, Medicaid made overpayments totaling $699,258 to the providers. At the time of the initial audit, Healthfirst took actions to prevent further errant claims and overpayments. Additionally, providers submitted claim adjustments for 126 of the 497 errant claims, resulting in Medicaid recoveries of $195,835. In a follow-up, auditors found DOH implemented the recommendation to recover the remaining Medicaid overpayments identified in the initial audit. This resulted in the recovery of Medicaid overpayments totaling $500,115.

Office of Court Administration, Reporting on Foreclosure of Real Property Funds - Kings County (2013-S-2)

Auditors found that court-appointed referees did not always properly report and account for foreclosure funds. A review of 10 of 35 foreclosures with surplus funds during the audit period determined that the funds for nine were incorrectly reported by the referee. Referees deposited surplus funds late in five of the 10 sales sampled and the reports of sale were late for two of these 10 sales. Ten of the referees sampled were not listed on the Part 36 Eligible Fiduciary List as of December 28, 2012. Court officials subsequently provided proof of registration for seven referees, but they did not provide any documentation for three.