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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAudit Committee Minutes 06-12-2014 Minutes of the Meeting of the Deschutes County Audit Committee Thursday, June 12, 2014 Members consist of 5 Public (P), and 3 County Management (CM) Quorum = five Committee Members present:  Facilitator: David Givans, County Internal Auditor  Jennifer Welander, (P) Director of Finance – St Charles Health System  Chris Earnest, (P) Director of Finance, NVHG – Oregon resorts Jean Pedelty, (P) Retired executive Gayle McConnell, (P) Retired corporate executive  Michael Shadrach, (P) Retired corporate executive Anthony DeBone, (CM) County Commissioner (excused) Nancy Blankenship, (CM) County Clerk (excused)  Dan Despotopulos, (CM) Deschutes County Fair & Expo Center Director Others Present:  Tom Anderson, County Administrator  Erik Kropp, Deputy County Administrator  Wayne Lowry, Finance Director  Jeanine Faria, Accounting Manager  Eide Bailly, LLP: Auditors Lealan Miller and Aly Steele  Michael Ann Benchoff, Program Support Manager Mary Anderson, Chief Deputy District Attorney  Nichole Brown, Executive Assistant District Attorney’s Office  DeAnn Carr, Behavioral Health Director  Sharon Ross, Administrative Assistant – BOCC CALL TO ORDER: Chair Jennifer Welander called the meeting to order at 12:10 p.m. AGENDA: Lunch/Introductions/Announcements: Introductions were made. A quorum was not met for this meeting as there are only 4 committee members present. Approval of Minutes from the Meeting on March 13, 2014: With no quorum present, the minutes of March 13, 2014 will be included on the next meeting’s agenda. For Recording Stamp Only AUDIT COMMITTEE MEETING Thursday, June 12, 2014 Page 2 of 4 External Audit Plan for FY 13/14: Lealan Miller and Aly Steele of Eide Bailly, LLP extended appreciation for the opportunity to be the County’s auditors.  Timing of audit work and report: They are on-site this week and are working with Jeanine and her staff starting single audit work and looking at payroll and cash disbursements. During the month of September they will be reviewing service districts and then will spend the last three weeks with Jeanine to issue the final report aiming for October 31st. The audit report would then be presented to the Audit Committee at the November 13th meeting.  Departments to visit: They plan to visit different departments to review their procedures. Member Shadrach suggested they also confer with David on the audit findings for the behavioral health software implementation. The audit team suggested their IT specialist, Anders, could review that process.  Update on the key risk areas they will focus on: As of this point and time, they haven’t identified any potential risk areas.  New accounting and reporting pronouncements: GASB has made revenue recognition harder than it is for reporting which will cause the audit team to take a harder look at that area. Capital assets can also be a significant area of review. OPEB and all of compensation liabilities will also need extra review to see how those are reporting especially for their first year. Member Shadrach told the audit team that he will be very interested in hearing any new perspectives they may be able to give and how their proposed timeline compared to actual completed time. Chair Welander requested a recap of the audit work be communicated at the November audit committee meeting. The exit conference should be held during the end of September. Internal Audit Report Med Examiner: Nichole Brown of the District Attorney’s office noted they were experiencing questions and concerns with the scheduling of the medical examiner which is coordinated through D.A.’s office. They enlisted Mr. Givans’s help with reviewing the funeral home rotation which was originally done in 2008 and only valid through 2013. Also since the rotation was created in 2008 the ownerships in funeral homes have changed. Rotation occurs when there is a death and 9-1-1 offers the name of the next funeral home in the line of rotation to the family. The second piece of David’s involvement was to run the cost to the DA’s office. The medical examiner has requested more funds from the budget. Discussion held on the process including transporting the body. Member Shadrach inquired if the DA’s office was satisfied with David’s help and they were. Mr. Givans asked Ms. Brown if she would complete the audit survey. Leadership Recruitments: Erik Kropp reviewed the recent hires.  Dave Doyle, County Legal Counsel, started the beginning of April. Dave is working on cross- training the attorney’s within the department.  Jane Smilie, Health Services Director, started in May. Scott Johnson has now transitioned out to his retirement. Jane previously worked for state of Montana for over 20 years and has a Masters in public health.  Currently in the process of reviewing applications for the 9-1-1 Director. Received 46 applications and the screening panel will meet this afternoon to decide who to invite for interviews.  Sharon Ross, Administrative Assistant, also comes to us this April from northern Minnesota and has a background with city government. AUDIT COMMITTEE MEETING Thursday, June 12, 2014 Page 3 of 4 Upcoming non audit work: David will begin follow up of HBT - Doc and Doc Pharmacy audit - will start in July. Global follow up should begin in August and will also begin reviewing new software for Finance and Personnel. Internal Audit Report Behavioral Health – Software Implementation DeAnn Carr, Behavioral Health Department Director was present at this time of the meeting. She noted this audit came up through a general work plan in relation to software implementation for electronic medical records. Timing of audit was excellent as the system was in need of updating and was inefficient and cumbersome for staff. Chair Welander inquired what the process was in selecting the vendor. A Request for Proposals was sent out and vendors responded. A team of Health department and IT department staff reviewed the proposals and chose “Profiler”. At that time the product seemed customizable and had the ability to adjust to meet their needs. Member Shadrach asked if Ms. Carr would you choose this system today? Her response was no. Question raised on what system they believe would work. The ability to have integrated data would be beneficial. Mention of OCHIN was made as Public Health, Mosaic, and La Pine have it. Member Shadrach noted that when reading the audit report the software implementation appears to have been a failed project and expressed concern there could be a potential loss of revenue because if things aren’t being completed you can’t send out bills. Ms. Carr noted that practices are in place to make sure there aren’t any issues with the billing process. Ms. Carr feels there is not an immediate loss of revenue but the department does need an electronic medical record system that supports the work they do. Member Shadrach asked if the “go live” was October 31 2012, why wasn’t the system failure caught sooner and re-evaluated? Ms. Carr commented that typically as with other systems, the initial feedback is that it is a natural part of the process and it is a rough time as with any new system. The department has done a review at least every six months to review the possible need to explore a new path. Member Shadrach opined it is important to look back at what happened and document where the errors were and what could have been done differently noting what lessons were learned. Member Shadrach was going to propose that the committee make a recommendation to the Commissioners that they request a formal evaluation and assessment of the process and key lessons the department. County Administrator Anderson noted the idea of an assessment is good and if Member Shadrach wants to make the recommendation that is fine and also pointed out that David Givans will be following up as well. Member Shadrach requested there would be a report to the committee. If going down the path to choose OCHIN, a meaningful use criteria is actually built in. Chair Welander inquired if a decision is already being made to go with OCHIN and what the time frame is. Ms. Carr noted there is no specific date and that OCHIN has a behavioral health module but still requires further development to fit their needs. Chair Welander inquired if the public has commented on this audit and if Mr. Givans was prepared for a response. She would like a follow up to David’s report and would like to have feedback brought this to the committee showing on how we react to these types of situations. She recommended a report be included on the next agenda. Member Shadrach felt it was a good time to do an internal performance audit of the clinicians and feels a report back to the committee would be beneficial. Member Earnest would like a report as well and wants to know the plan to move forward. Mr. Givans requested DeAnn and Michael Ann to fill out the surveys from the audit. Status of filling committee vacancies: At the last meeting it was agreed that it was preferred to have six members and that the member vacancies would be posted. David is compiling the information for the volunteer packet and is scheduling a press release to go out the end of June The posting will be in the Bulletin, Craigslist, and the County website for two weeks and then open up to decide on interview process. Commissioner DeBone would be involved in the interviews. New members should be appointed by September. AUDIT COMMITTEE MEETING Thursday, June 12, 2014 Page 4 of 4 Peer Review (Association of Local Government Auditors)– 9/2014 (on three year cycle) – Mr. Givans stated he is due for a peer review and hasn’t worked out details as of yet. Ideally they will be able to report at the next meeting in September. Updates/Other items:  Mr. Givans is currently working on other audit work including email vaulting.  For the Internal Audit status report he has finished interviews and commented it was useful to get out to all departments to see the diversity of work habits.  County Administrator Anderson spoke with the Local Public Safety Coordinating Committee about the possibility of involving Mr. Givans in an audit.  Mr. Givans went to Lane County and did a presentation for them. They have had an empty vacancy with an internal auditor and are considering adding an internal auditor to their staff. Other Business/Closing: None Adjournment: Being no further issues brought before the Committee, Jennifer Welander adjourned the meeting at 2:00 p.m. Respectfully submitted, ______________________________ Sharon Ross Administrative Assistant - BOCC