VETERANS HOME TO ACT ON AUDIT'S RECOMMENDATIONS

The Cape Girardeau Missouri Veterans Home administrator, Sam McVay, will take to heart state Auditor Margaret Kelly recommendations in a recent audit of the home.

The audit showed no evidence of fraud, which pleased McVay.

"I was tickled to death with it because all it showed is that we can take steps to be more efficient, but didn't show any major abuse of funds or anything," McVay said.

Ken Jones, fiscal supervisor for the state's five veterans homes, said the report showed no glaring weaknesses in McVay's running of the home.

"Auditors are there to find whatever problems exist and not to point out any of the positive areas," Jones said. "I looked at the final report and felt the Missouri Veterans Home in Cape came out of it pretty well. There are areas in which they could improve on, but you could say that about any place."

Kelly said the home "does not verify the financial information submitted by residents when determining how much they will contribute for their care and has not established formal procedures to pursue collection."

The audit cited the home for not having formal procedures for verifying patients' financial information.

"Since individual rates are determined based on this financial information, independent verification is necessary to ensure that the resident's rate fairly reflects his or her ability to pay for care," Kelly said.

Kelly also said the home didn't have formal procedures in place to pursue delinquent accounts, some of which dated to May 1992.

She recommended formal written procedures be established and followed.

McVay said the admissions policy will be strengthened to emphasize the necessity for financial verification.

"Upon admission we again request updated copies of financial verification, such as property tax assessments, bank statements and copies of CD renewals," McVay said.

He added that in some cases securing financial verification prior to admission is impossible when the resident is admitted directly from a hospital setting with no family member there to assist in obtaining the information.

"We estimate that verification is complete within 30 days in 90 percent of admissions," McVay said. "If changes or errors are found, retroactive adjustments are made."

The state auditor also revealed:

-- The Residents' Cash Fund, which is held in an interest-bearing checking account at a bank, is not covered by a written agreement for collateral security when its balance exceeds $100,000.

"When we realized this it was taken care of right away," McVay said.

-- During fiscal years 1993 and 1994 money earmarked for the facility was used for expenses related to the Missouri Veterans Commission Central Office in Jefferson City.

"We're making sure that this doesn't happen again," McVay said. "It was more of an oversight than a deliberate attempt to deceive anyone."

-- Controls over soda concessions should be strengthened and losses and unusual fluctuations indicated on the quarterly concession report aren't fully investigated.