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Minnesota Audit Finds Pervasive Failures in DHS Behavioral Health Grants, Backdated Records

DHS says it has begun reforms after auditors questioned documentation integrity.

Overview

  • The audit covered July 2022 through December 2024, when BHA managed about $426 million across 830 grant agreements for mental health and substance use services.
  • Auditors found systemic issues in 63 of 71 grants tested and problems with 11 of 18 payments, citing insufficient documentation, ineligible costs, and timing errors.
  • One grantee could not support a $672,647 single‑month payment, and the BHA grant manager who approved it left days later and later worked for that grantee.
  • The OLA reported documents were backdated or created after the audit began, a practice the legislative auditor said she had not previously seen in her 27 years at the office.
  • BHA says it created a Central Grants Office and restructured leadership to tighten oversight, while DHS investigates staff conduct and lawmakers signal further scrutiny.