Audits in Progress

These summaries of the audits currently approved or under way link to the audit "scope statement" approved by the Legislative Post Audit Committee or (for audits conducted by the school audit team) by the 2010 Commission. The scope statement outlines the questions the audit will try to answer and the methods we would use to answer those questions. (Files in PDF format are 15 KB or smaller).

Division of Purchasing: Reviewing Issues Related To Its Acquisition of Goods and Services

State agencies that need to contract for supplies, materials, equipment, and contractual services must use a competitive-bid process. Questions have been raised by legislators about whether the Division of Purchases appropriately handled the Statewide copier contract and other contracts, as well as why some initial bids are increased significantly during the negotiation process. Also questions have been raised about whether Kansas' participation in the two multi-state purchasing consortiums has been in the best financial interest of the State.
Scope statement

Fair Fares: Reviewing the Benefits Claimed As a Result of State Funding To Lower Airfares

In 2006, the Legislature created a $5 million State Affordable Airfare Fund. The Fund was established to provide more air flight options, more competition for air travel, and affordable airfares for Kansas, including a regional airport in western Kansas. The moneys credited to the Fund are to be disbursed as annual grants by the Secretary of Commerce to the Regional Economic Area Partnership (REAP). Each annual grant is supposed to be matched by moneys the Partnership receives from local units of government and private entities on the basis of 75% from the State Affordable Airfare Fund, and 25% from local governments and private entities. Officials from REAP are required to evaluate and present a report on the effectiveness of the Program to the House Appropriations and Senate Ways and Means Committees. Additionally, they are required to submit a report to the Legislature on the expenditures of the State annual grant and local matching moneys. Legislators are interested to know if those reports can be relied upon to present an accurate assessment of what is being accomplished with the money.
Scope statement

Medicaid: Reviewing the Use of Emergency Room Services by Medicaid Clients

In 2004, the Wisconsin Legislative Auditor's Office issued an audit reviewing the use of emergency rooms by Medicaid clients. The audit found that over a 4-year period, Wisconsin paid approximately $20 million annually for emergency department services that did not result in an inpatient stay. The audit also found a small group--about 5.5% of clients--visited emergency departments six or more times a year and accounted for 27% of all visits to the emergency room. In a similar report to the legislature in 2005, the Washington Department of Social and Health Services cited a study it conducted in which it found that in 2004, a small group (about 1.8%) of emergency room users had 12 or more emergency room visits in a year. That group accounted for 16% of total emergency room visits. Questions have been raised about the extent to which this problem may exist within Kansas' Medicaid program, and what steps can be taken to address it.
Scope statement

Sole-Source Contracts: Determining Whether Sole Sourcing Is Being Used When Other Vendors Could Supply the Goods or Services

State law provides that all contracts for construction and repairs, and all purchases of and contracts for supplies, materials, equipment and contractual services acquired for State agencies be based on competitive bids. The law goes on to specify seven instances in which competitive bids aren’t required—such as when an emergency requires immediate delivery of services or supplies. Legislative concerns have been raised that State agencies are sole-sourcing contracts that should be competitively bid, and that the State is likely paying more than necessary as a result.
Scope statement

Expanding the Use of Managed Care in the Kansas Medicaid Program

Since 1998, North Carolina has been using an “enhanced medical home” model of care called Community Care of North Carolina (CCNC) in its Medicaid Program. Independent evaluations of the program report that it saved the state between $77 million and $85 million in fiscal 2005 and between $154 and $170 million in fiscal year 2006. Legislators have expressed interest in knowing whether implementing a similar program in Kansas has the potential to save comparable amounts of money.
Scope statement

Water-Related Agencies: Determining Whether the State Could Achieve Efficiencies and Reduce Costs by Combining the Operations of Its Water-Related Agencies

Several State agencies have primary roles in helping maintain the State’s water resources. Over the years, legislative concerns have been raised about whether Kansas would benefit by combining and consolidating activities related to water management and regulation into a single agency.
Scope statement

University Fees and Costs: Reviewing Whether State University Costs for Credit Hours Earned in Excess of Degree Requirements Are Sufficiently Funded by Student Fees

An audit of Florida’s higher education program reported that most students attending that state’s public universities graduate with credit hours in excess of graduation requirements, which increases the cost of higher education. That audit estimated the cost of those excess hours to be approximately $62 million in 2003. Legislative concerns have been raised about whether a similar situation exists at Kansas’ universities, and if so, what actions can be taken to ensure that State funding is not used to pay for those additional costs.
Scope statement

K-12 Education:

Reviewing School Districts' Use of Medicaid Reimbursements To Pay for Special Education Services

The federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act requires states to provide special education services to all children between the ages of 3 and 21 who need special services because of conditions such as mental retardation, hearing or visual impairment, emotional disturbance, or autism. Because some of these services are health-related, school districts and special education cooperatives can bill Medicaid to help pay for these services if the students are eligible. School districts have never been reimbursed for all the health-related services they provide to Medicaid-eligible students. A 2003 Legislative Post Audit report found that districts were missing out on $3 million to $5 million in Medicaid funding because they hadn't obtained parental consent to bill for services. Beginning with the 2007-08 school year, several changes were made to the rules for school-based Medicaid that made it even more difficult to get reimbursed, which further reduced the total amount of school-based Medicaid funding. Members of the 2010 Commission have expressed concerns about whether school districts are missing out on large amounts of Medicaid funding for special education services.
Scope statement

K-12 Education:
Reviewing Issues Related to the Cost of the Health Care Benefits Provided By School Districts

Employee insurance costs-primarily health insurance-have grown substantially over the last several years, from just more than $195 million for the 2003-04 school year, to almost $250 million for the 2007-08 school year. Overall, employee insurance costs represent nearly 5% of school districts' total reported expenditures for 2007-08. Because health insurance costs represent such a large cost for school districts, members of the 2010 Commission recently have expressed an interest in finding out whether there are ways districts could better control these costs.
Scope statement

K-12 Education:

Efficiency Audit of the Renwick School District

This audit will look at the Renwick school district as a follow up to the efficiency of school district's operation audit that was done in July 2009 which looked at district staffing and expenditure data to identify areas where spending for districts appeared to be out-of-line compared with their peers. The Renwick school district requested to be part of this audit to help them identify ways they could reduce costs without affecting the education they provide students.
Scope statement

K-12 Education:

Efficiency Audit of the Winfield School District

This audit will look at the Winfield school district as a follow up to the efficiency of school district's operation audit that was done in July 2009 which looked at district staffing and expenditure data to identify areas where spending for districts appeared to be out-of-line compared with their peers. The Winfield school district requested to be part of this audit to help them identify ways they could reduce costs without affecting the education they provide students.
Scope statement

Fiscal Notes:

Determining Whether the Process for Preparing Fiscal Estimates In Kansas Could Be Improved

The Division of the Budget estimates that 750-800 fiscal notes are prepared during a legislative session. About two-thirds of those have a specific dollar impact tied to them. Legislators have expressed concerns about the accuracy of fiscal notes in Kansas, and whether State agencies are held accountable for the reliability of the estimates they provide to the Budget Director. In addition, they want to know if there is more Kansas could do to provide better estimates of the potential benefits for economic development fiscal notes.
Scope statement

Agency Data Centers:
Assessing the Potential Savings of Consolidation

According to the most recent set of agency IT plans compiled by the Kansas Informatiion Technology Office, executive branch agencies (excluding the Regents institutions) spent more than $111 million on IT services in fiscal year 2007. One of the major IT cost areas is the operation and maintenance of data servers. According to the IT plans, agencies currently operate four large mainframe systems and more than 2,100 smaller servers. Legislators are interested in knowing whether there is potential for significant cost savings in Kansas from consolidating data centers, and what potential up-front costs would be need to be incurred.
Scope statement

Data Mining:
Reviewing State Data Systems for Inappropriate Payments

This audit would apply some of the same techniques used to identify improper payments to ineligible clients in the Medicaid Program to some other entitlement programs. Auditors will look to see if the State's current practices adequately address the identified risk for abuse and non-compliance; and are there instances of abuse and non-compliance actually occurring.
Scope statement