Overview
- The Office of the Legislative Auditor reported that the Behavioral Health Administration failed most compliance tests and lacked adequate internal controls over grants issued between July 2022 and December 2024.
- Auditors said BHA staff backdated or created documentation after the audit began, a practice the legislative auditor called unprecedented and one that undermined the reliability of records.
- In a sample review, 63 of 71 agreements had reconciliation issues, BHA could not show it completed 27 of 67 required monitoring tests, and more than half of progress reports were missing or late.
- One grantee could not support a $672,647.78 payment for a single month, and the grant manager who approved it left DHS days later before later consulting for that grantee; auditors also flagged nearly $300,000 paid for unsupported costs and abrupt grant increases up to 830%.
- Acting Commissioner Shireen Gandhi accepted the findings and said DHS is restructuring oversight, while lawmakers from both parties pressed for reforms and at least one internal audit referral has gone to law enforcement.