Teche Action audit has two dental findings

Staff Report
FRANKLIN — Teche Action Board’s 2013-14 audit shows the organization failed to reconcile its dental accounts receivable for several months and that the group inconsistently applied its sliding fee schedule for dental patients, according to a report.
The audit report performed by Steven M. Derouen & Associates in Lake Charles for the fiscal year ended May 31, 2014, was published today on the state legislative auditor’s website. The auditor issued unmodified opinions, or clean opinions, on the board’s financial statements and federal awards, the report stated.
The report listed two findings, the first of which was that the dental accounts receivable had not been reconciled for several months from the detail of the Dentrix software, used for dental billing, to the organization’s general ledger, the report said.
On Oct. 1, 2013, Teche Action Board Inc. started utilizing the “Dentrix” software system for dental billings, instead of the prior use of interfacing the dental charges to the Medical – Practice Management software. The transition to the new software was improperly performed and resulted in erroneous amounts in the “detailed” billing records.
These erroneous amounts were not recorded in the general ledger, the report said. The reconciliation of detailed accounting records to the general ledger is an extremely important process to ensure accurate preparation of financial statements, the report stated.
The auditor recommended to immediately start the utilization of the prior software for all patient billing, the report said. Also, the auditor said the board should start reconciling detail accounts receivable records to the general ledger on a monthly basis.
The auditor also determined that the application of the organization’s sliding fee policy was inconsistently applied to dental patients, the report stated.
Sliding fee discounts should be in accordance with Health Resources and Services Administration charges/fees and should be based on local rates and adjustments based on the organization’s Sliding Fee Policy, the report said. Sliding fee discounts should be applied to eligible patients based on family size and income, the report stated.
The auditor recommended that the sliding fee policy of the organization should be consistently applied to all patients that are eligible in accordance with the organizations policy, according to the report.
Management’s response was immediate implementation of the utilization of the Medical Practice Management software for all patient billings. Also, management said that dental charges will be interfaced with the Medical Practice Management software as was performed prior to the change.
Management said that monthly reconciliations of patient accounts receivable will be performed balancing the organization’s general ledger to the Medical Practice Management detailed accounts receivable reports.
The applying sliding fee discounts consistent with the organizations Sliding Fee Policy for all patients that are eligible will be immediately implemented, according to management’s response. The Performance Improvement committee will be responsible for auditing the dental sliding fee discounts and reporting to the CEO and board of directors, the audit report stated.