Report No.

Report Date

Name of Report

Findings/Recommendation

Status (Implementation; Partially Implemented; Action Delayed; No Action Taken)

Fiscal Impact/Other Impact

00-001

July 21, 2000

Community Based Clinics (CBC) Charge Capture

CBC registration personnel do not as a practice call insurance carriers or use the Health Data Xchange (HDX) insurance verification system to verify patient eligibility during each clinic visit.  Additionally, personnel do not always take action to verify that services to be rendered are in fact covered services. 

CBC management should continue to look for ways to achieve better results in the area of eligibility and coverage verification.

Partially Implemented

Reduce payment denials associated with patient eligibility and service coverage.

The internal quality assurance program implemented by CBC management should be expanded to include a periodic assessment of the network's coding practices.

Partially Implemented

Reduce the risk of inadvertent miscoding of patient visits via the development of a system for facilitating corrective and preventive action.

A good system is not in place for CBC management to monitor the charge document generation and entry process.  We recommend that CBC management coordinate with Physician Billing Services to pursue the development of a reliable system for monitoring this process.

Partially Implemented

Reduce the risk of charge documents not being generated and/or not being entered into the billing system without management's detection.

All employees should be required to utilize unique user IDs and passwords to access system resources.  In cases where the use of individual IDs and passwords is not practical, management should implement workstation specific restrictions to limit system access.

Implemented

Increase access controls and individual accountability for system usage.

Reduce the risk of noncompliance with Texas Department of Information Resources

Management should take action to ensure that information system account rights are consistently applied to all user accounts.

Implemented

Increase protection afforded to information system resources and confidential, sensitive and critical data.

Good business practices consist of having a process in place to ensure that users are removed from information systems and applications when access is no longer required.  Although a process is in place, opportunity exists to improve the current process via automated means. 

Implemented

Reduce the risk of inappropriate access to information system resources.

00-003

Mar 17, 2000

Pharmacology

& Toxicology Department

Principle investigators need to be able to review Time & Effort reports on a periodic basis and make any necessary corrections or adjustments to payroll expenses charged to federal grants.

Partially Implemented

Assure compliance with federal regulations.

There is a separation of duties risk within the expenditure process.  An independent person monitoring expenditures can mitigate this risk.

Partially Implemented

Reduce the risk of errors or fraud within the expenditure process.

The department should follow-up on the inventory listed as missing from the last inventory.  Account owners should work with the APO to ensure that all transactions (moves, transfers, destruction) are properly documented.

Partially Implemented

Reduce errors in inventory records and protect assets from loss.

Department administration should ensure that record management practices are consistent with institutional policies and procedures.

Partially Implemented

Protect vital records and comply with State regulations.

The department should provide account owners access to detailed financial information about their accounts either through monthly ledger sheets or access to the online Financial Reporting System.

Implemented

Assure that costs posted to owner accounts are accurate and appropriate.

00-007

Mar 17, 2000

Hospital and Other Clearing Accounts

Management should establish appropriate procedures to ensure that the clearing accounts are routinely reconciled and reviewed.  Hospital Patient Financial Services should be assigned formal responsibility for reconciling hospital clearing accounts.

Partially

Implemented

Assure that errors and omissions in posting receipts and other transactions are corrected timely.

00-009

Mar 17,

2000

Family Practice Residency Program

The Family Medicine Department should establish a process whereby Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board Funds are actively monitored throughout the year.

Implemented

Assure that expenditures are charged to the   appropriate accounts and fund balances are accurate.

00-011

Oct 13, 2000

Fixed Asset System

UTMB should perform a comprehensive inventory, fully utilizing its bar code tags, and consider the use of new technologies to improve the process of inventory management.

Partially Implemented

Reduce the risk of equipment loss and failure to comply with State policy.

UTMB should consider a reassignment of property accountability to an appropriate level of management and put a structure in place that can effectively complete the objectives of inventory management as required by the State.

Partially Implemented

Reduce the risk of not recognizing the fixed assets process as important and focusing efforts to meet State requirements.

The Plant, Property &Equipment group needs to the follow State guidelines for recording and reporting items on SPA.

Implemented.

Reduce the risk of non-compliance with State Policy.

The review of security access of FFX revealed inappropriate update access for several individuals and separation of duties.  The administration of FFX security should be reviewed to provide proper access capabilities to individuals.

Partially Implemented

Limit the risk of inaccurate or fraudulent transactions in the fixed asset system.

The Logistics group needs to revisit how the Warehouse and Tagging area is managed and operated.

Partially Implemented

Reduce the risk of operations not meeting the goals and objectives of management.

The tagging process needs to be a continuous part of the receiving and delivery process. 

Tagging needs to be improved to ensure only capital equipment and controllable items are tagged.  This could be done by generating automate reports of what needs to be tagged after the items have been entered into the Purchasing, Accounts Payable, and Receiving System. 

Missed items that still need to be tagged should be scheduled with the Accountable Property Officers to ensure the items will get tagged in a timely manner.

Partially Implemented

Reduces the risk of equipment loss and failure to comply with State policy.

00-014

July 21, 2000

Physician Billing Services Clearing Accounts

Physician Billing Service should complete the automation of the reconciliation process for the clearing accounts with the ultimate goal of completing a monthly reconciliation. Management should review the monthly reconciliation to ensure that it is timely and accurate. 

Partially Implemented

Assure that errors and omissions in posting receipts and other transactions are corrected timely.