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Home My WebLink About2223-7 Follow-up Management of Pandemic CI-CT (Final 1-13-23)Follow-up Management of Pandemic Case Investigation and Contact Tracing #2223-7 January 2023 FOLLOW-UP REPORT Management of Pandemic Case Investigation and Contact Tracing (Internal audit report #2122-5 issued March 2022) To request this information in an alternate format, please call (541) 330-4674 or send email to internal.audit@deschutescounty.gov Deschutes County, Oregon Internal Audit David Givans, CPA, CIA – County Internal Auditor Aaron Kay – Performance Auditor internal.audit@deschutescounty.gov Audit committee members: Daryl Parrish, Chair - Public Member Jodi Burch - Public Member Joe Healy – Public Member Scott Reich - Public Member Summer Sears - Public Member Stan Turel - Public Member Patti Adair, County Commissioner Charles Fadeley, Justice of the Peace Lee Randall, Facilities Director Follow-up Management of Pandemic Case Investigation and Contact Tracing #2223-7 January 2023 Table of Contents 1. INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................................... 1 I. OBJECTIVES AND SCOPE ................................................................................................................................. 1 II. METHODOLOGY ............................................................................................................................................ 1 2. FOLLOW-UP RESULTS ............................................................................................................................. 2 3. APPENDIX - UPDATED WORKPLAN (STATUS AS OF JANUARY 2023).................................................. 3 Follow-up Management of Pandemic Case Investigation and Contact Tracing #2223-7 January 2023 Page 1 1. Introduction Audit Authority: The Deschutes County Audit Committee has suggested that follow-ups occur within nine months of the report. The Audit Committee would like to make sure departments satisfactorily address recommendations. 1.1. OBJECTIVES and SCOPE “Audit objectives” define the goals of the audit. Objectives: The objective was to follow-up on recommendations from the original audit. Scope: The follow-up included five recommendations from the internal audit report for Management of Pandemic Case Investigation and Contact Tracing (#2122-5), issued in March 2022. The original internal audit report should be referenced for the full text of the recommendation and associated discussion. The follow-up reflects the status as of January 2023. 1.2. METHODOLOGY The follow-up report was developed from information provided by Kathleen Hinman, Human Resources Director. Health Services deferred to comment due to ongoing coordination with Human Resources on the recommendations. Comments were offered for the status of the outstanding recommendation. Follow-ups are, 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 updates received are included in the Appendix. Since no substantive audit work was performed, Government Auditing Standards issued by the Comptroller General of the United States were not followed. Follow-up Management of Pandemic Case Investigation and Contact Tracing #2223-7 January 2023 Page 2 2. Follow-up Results Figure I - How were recommendations implemented? The follow-up included five outstanding recommendations agreed to by the Health Services Department and the Human Resources Department. Figure I provides an overview of the implementation status of the recommendations. With this follow-up, twenty percent (20%) of the outstanding recommendations have been partially addressed. As indicated in the provided responses, HR has been providing support and guidance to the recommendations and are considering drafting formal guidelines to address these areas. Additionally, a request for proposal for temporary and agency staffing is tentatively scheduled for the third quarter of 2023. The details of the follow-up is included at the end of the report in the Appendix. In interpreting the status, Internal Audit may sometimes raise or lower the status provided by the department based on the communication(s) received from the department. Follow-up Management of Pandemic Case Investigation and Contact Tracing #2223-7 January 2023 Page 3 3. APPENDIX - Updated workplan (status as of January 2023) Items that are not completed are greyed out. Rec # Recommendations Status Estimated or Actual Date of Completion Updated Follow-up comments 1 It is recommended for the County to develop a new invitation to bid to cover the newer needs of the County for temporary labor and address the handling of margin and concerns noted above. Planned Dec-23 RFP for temporary and agency staffing is tentatively scheduled for Q3 2023. 2 It is recommended the current contract with the primary vendor for temporary labor be extended out 12-18 months until an invitation to bid can be developed and issued. Underway Mar-23 We have reached out to the primary vendor to discuss a contract extension. Extending the contract may not be fiscally feasible at this time. We will continue with current contract services for now and evaluate further with primary vendor. 3 It is recommended for the County to establish more effective leadership and management of the temporary labor contracts and how they are used by County departments. They may want to consider a policy or procedures to address the variety of human resource (HR) issues that come with using a temporary workforce. This would include whether an in-house labor pool could be developed and when departments should consider contracted labor. Human Resources has indicated they will be taking over efforts to work on the temporary labor RFP/contracts Planned May-23 We will consider drafting guidelines for the use of a temporary workforce to meet department staffing needs. Follow-up Management of Pandemic Case Investigation and Contact Tracing #2223-7 January 2023 Page 4 Rec # Recommendations Status Estimated or Actual Date of Completion Updated Follow-up comments 4 It is recommended for the County (and Health Services) consider what practices should be employed to provide feedback (formal and informal and to what extent) to contracted temporary staff working for the County. Planned May-23 The County has established guidelines for providing performance evaluation and wage increases for on- call and hourly employees. These same guidelines should be applied to contracted temporary staff working in a capacity greater than temporary fill-in and seasonal support. HR consider establishing formal guidelines to support management and staff in this area in coordination with the guidelines for the use of temporary workforce. 5 It is recommended for Health Services and the County to consider using more metrics as they manage temporary and remote staffing workloads (for case investigation and contact tracing). Planned May-23 We have been able to provide support to managers in this area and will consider establishing formal guidelines to support management and staff in coordination with the guidelines for the use of temporary workforce. {End of Report}