HomeMy WebLinkAboutFollow-up of Veterans Services - EffectivenessFollow-up report on Veterans’ Services – Effectiveness #13/14-7 December 2013
FOLLOW-UP REPORT
Veterans’ Services - Effectiveness
(Internal audit report #12/13-1 issued February 2013)
To request this information in an alternate format, please call (541) 330-4674 or send email to David.Givans@Deschutes.org
Deschutes County,
Oregon
David Givans, CPA, CIA, CGMA
Deschutes County Internal Auditor
1300 NW Wall St
PO Box 6005
Bend, OR 97708-6005
(541) 330-4674
David.Givans@Deschutes.og
Audit committee:
Jennifer Welander, Chair - Public member
Chris Earnest - Public member
Gayle McConnell - Public member
Jean Pedelty - Public member
Michael Shadrach - Public member
Anthony DeBone, County Commissioner
Nancy Blankenship, County Clerk
Dan Despotopulos, Fair & Expo Director
Follow-up report on Veterans’ Services – Effectiveness #13/14-7 December 2013
TABLE OF
CONTENTS:
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1. Background ………………………………………...………………................................... 1
1.2. Objectives & Scope ……………………………………..………………………….…….… 1
1.3. Methodology ……………………………………………………..…………………….……. 1
2. FOLLOW-UP RESULTS ……………….…...………………………….............................. 2
3. APPENDIX I – Internal Audit Recommendations - Updated Workplan for
Report #12/13-1 (Status updated as of December 2013) ….……...…........................ 3-6
Follow-up report on Veterans’ Services – Effectiveness #13/14-7 December 2013
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1.
Introduction
1.1 BACKGROUND
Audit Authority:
The Deschutes County Audit Committee has suggested that follow-ups occur from nine months to one
year after the original report issuance. The Audit Committee’s would like to make sure departments
satisfactorily address recommendations.
1.2 OBJECTIVES and SCOPE
Objectives:
The objective was to follow-up on the outstanding audit recommendations.
Scope:
The follow-up included six (6) recommendations from the internal audit report on Veterans’ Services –
Effectiveness (#12/13-1) (issued February 2013).
The follow-up reflects the status as of December 2013. The original internal audit report should be
referenced for the full text of recommendations and discussion.
1.3 METHODOLOGY
The follow-up report was developed from information provided by Keith MacNamara, Veterans’ Service
Officer. In cases where recommendations have not been implemented, comments were sought for the
reasons why and the timing for addressing these. The follow-up is, by nature, subjective. In determining the
status of recommendations that were followed up, we relied on assertions provided by those involved and
did not attempt to independently verify those assertions.
The Veterans’ Service Office should be acknowledged for their work in addressing these recommendations.
Since no substantive audit work was performed, Government Auditing Standards issued by the Comptroller
General of the United States were not followed.
DESCHUTES COUNTY
INTERNAL AUDIT
REPORT
DESCHUTES COUNTY
INTERNAL AUDIT
REPORT
DESCHUTES COUNTY
INTERNAL AUDIT
REPORT
Follow-up report on Veterans’ Services – Effectiveness #13/14-7 December 2013
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2.
Follow-up
Results
Figure I -
How were
recommenda-
tions
implemented?
The follow-up included six (6) recommendations. Management agreed with all of the recommendations.
Figure I provides an overview of the implementation status of the recommendations. The details of the updated
workplan are provided in Appendix I.
With this follow-up, 6 of the recommendations (50%) have been sufficiently completed. Expectations have been
established for the remainder of the recommendations.
Follow-up report on Veterans’ Services – Effectiveness #13/14-7 December 2013
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3. Appendix Appendix I –Updated Workplan for Report #12/13-1 (Status as of December 2013)
Rec# Recommendation text Agreement STATUS Expected
Completion
Date
Updated Department Comments
1 It is recommended for a policy to be
developed by Deschutes County
Veterans’ Services Office to address
whether and the extent of services
provided to non-Deschutes County
veterans. This policy should
consider moving towards a situation
of limiting “out of county” veterans
and referring them to ODVA when
there is a backlog to see new
Deschutes County veterans.
Agree Underway Jun-14 At this time, I have not developed a written policy for
seeing out of county clients.
However, I have been working with the other local
CVSO’S and we have set up a referral system. When
we have a client come in from other counties we
make phone contact with the respective CVSO and
notify them of the veterans need to be seen by them.
If we are unable to make contact, we will assist the
veteran with their needs at that time and make the
referral verbally. We also send email notification to the
other CVSO with contact information for the veteran
for future representation.
Follow-up report on Veterans’ Services – Effectiveness #13/14-7 December 2013
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Rec# Recommendation text Agreement STATUS Expected
Completion
Date
Updated Department Comments
2 It is recommended for the Veterans’
Services Office to develop a plan to
reduce backlog for new client
appointments to an acceptable level.
Some suggested ideas for reducing
the backlog in new client
appointments, could include:
• Providing more opportunities for
new client appointments. This could
include:
o extending new client appointment
options to all work days,
o doing away with walk-in
appointments and doing fill-in for
cancellations or no-shows, and
o establishing performance
measures that will monitor work
towards improving new client visits.
• Triaging new clients and making
sure new VSO comes on quickly and
has opportunities to increase
caseload.
• Seeking temporary additional
assistance from an available ODVA
certified VSO to help bring down the
backlog faster. {It is not clear
whether one may be available}
Agree Completed
/Ongoing
The backlog has been reduced to what I am
considering a normal wait time between 2 and 3
weeks.
Currently we are seeing new clients within the 2 - 3
week time frame.
1. We have extended new client appointments to all
work days.
2. We have a cancelation notebook that we use to fill
in appointments either when one is canceled or
rescheduled.
3. The new ACVSO has come up to speed and is
seeing a standard caseload of clients, which
significantly contributed to the depletion of the
backlog.
4. We are seeing new clients as soon as possible,
even to file an informal claim. This allows the client
and the VSO time to gather the required evidence and
documentation to file a formal application for benefits
to the VBA.
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Rec# Recommendation text Agreement STATUS Expected
Completion
Date
Updated Department Comments
3 It is recommended for the Office to
consider more fully utilizing the
software for communicating and
operating with client information.
Agree Underway Jun-14 We are continuing to enter as much data as possible
into the Vetraspec database.
The VA is turning to all electronic claims submission
in the near future. At that time, all data and client
information will only be available in the database. This
will greatly increase our workload due to amount of
documentation that will be required to be scanned into
the system.
4 It is recommended for the Office to
consider additional performance
measures that are useful in
addressing the level and quality of
services being performed.
Agree Completed
/Ongoing
We have continued to utilize the customer survey
sheets that were used during the audit to constantly
improve our level of service and our commitment to
the veterans of Deschutes County.
5 It is recommended for the Office to
seek methods for collecting their
information for measures from their
computerized systems, when
possible.
Agree Underway Jun-14 When writing my quarterly reports of activities I am
now considering all continuing monthly monetary
benefits that in the past have not been considered.
The Oregon County Veteran Service Office
Association and the Oregon Department of Veterans
Affairs are attempting to standardize the format and
the configuration of the reports. This will also include
what categories must be included in the report and
what figures must be used.
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Rec# Recommendation text Agreement STATUS Expected
Completion
Date
Updated Department Comments
6 It is recommended for the County to
consider whether the use of the
remote locations is still warranted
and evaluate whether the additional
.25 FTE in staffing could have a
greater impact on service levels.
Agree Completed The assistant veteran’s service officer has been
increased to full time status. The county also
authorized the additional funding that was required to
maintain the operations of both remote offices in
LaPine and Redmond. We have depleted the backlog
of clients to a normal wait time and maintained
outreach services.
{END OF REPORT}