A recently released State Board of Accounts audit into the practices of the Indiana Department of Child Services notes the lingering fallout from late payments to providers in the child protection system, but DCS and a group that represents many of those providers statewide note improvements under a new administration.
The audit, which covers March 1, 2010, to Jan. 31, 2014, notes the late payment penalties to DCS as a result of not paying its bills on time as $330,526 in fiscal year 2011; $115,315 in fiscal year 2012; and $181,329 in fiscal year 2013.
Providers such as foster care agencies and therapists complained about not being paid in a timely way during testimony to the General Assembly’s DCS interim study committee in 2012.
DCS acknowledged the problem and responded in writing to the audit by noting the agency has taken several measures to address the issue, including “a vendor portal where invoices are being entered and pre-audited at the point of submission to reduce internal processing time,” it said. “It is our belief that this will resolve the issue ... We have already seen a reduction in late payment interest” to $65,886 in fiscal year 2014 (July 1, 2013, to June 30, 2014).
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