RESOLUTION NO. 137
Presented
by Representative Mautino
WHEREAS, State law requires the State
Comptroller and the Department of Central Management Services to jointly
promulgate rules and policies for the prompt payment of State obligations,
including procedures and time frames for approving a bill or invoice from a
vendor for goods or services furnished to the State; and
WHEREAS, the State Comptroller and the
Department of Central Management Services have adopted such rules at Title 74
of the Illinois Administrative Code, Part 900; and
WHEREAS, those rules require State
agencies to approve “proper bills” received from vendors or deny bills with
defects, in whole or in part, within 30 days after receipt; and
WHEREAS, those rules also require
State agencies to notify vendors as soon as possible when defects are
discovered in a bill; the notification must indicate the nature of the defect
and any additional information necessary to correct the defect; and
WHEREAS, State agencies are required
to maintain adequate documentation of all such notifications and subsequent
agency and vendor actions so as to determine when and from what date late
payment interest is due and to resolve any related vendor disputes; and
WHEREAS, interest shall begin accruing
on the 61st day after receipt of a proper bill and continues to
accrue until the bill is paid by the Comptroller’s Office; and
WHEREAS, the Department of Healthcare
and Family Services acknowledges owing several million dollars in interest to
vendors providing services in the Medicaid program whose bills were not paid in
a timely manner; therefore
BE IT RESOLVED, BY THE LEGISLATIVE
AUDIT COMMISSION that the Auditor General is directed to conduct a management
audit of the Department of Healthcare and Family Services’ process for receipt,
approval, denial, and payment of vendor bills for services provided in the
Medicaid program; and be it further
RESOLVED, that the audit include but
not be limited to, the following determinations:
·
whether and at what point there are delays in the reviewing and
processing vendor bills and payments;
·
whether decisions to reject bills as not being in proper form are
adequately documented and communicated in a timely manner to vendors, including
a sampling of vendors to identify problems they may have encountered with the
process;
·
whether dates of receipt of proper bills are adequately documented;
·
whether the regular, systematic process used by the Department of
Healthcare and Family Services for reporting claim liability information to the
Office of the Comptroller pertaining to claims received and approved, but not
yet submitted to the Office of the Comptroller, is adequate and
RESOLVED, that the Department of Healthcare and
Family Services and the Office of the State Comptroller, and any other State
agency, entity or person that may have information relevant to this audit
cooperate fully and promptly with the Auditor General’s Office in its conduct;
and be it further
RESOLVED, that the Auditor General report his audit
conclusions as soon as possible and make public his findings and
recommendations upon completion in accordance with the provision of Section
3-14 of the Illinois State Auditing Act.
Adopted this 21st
day of May, 2007.
_______________________________ ______________________________
Representative Frank J. Mautino Senator Chris Lauzen
Co-Chair Co-Chair