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COLUMBUS – Auditors identified 24 findings and questioned costs totaling $2.85 million among seven state agencies that administered federally funded programs in fiscal year 2022, according to an annual audit of spending released Thursday by Auditor of State Keith Faber.

The 2022 State of Ohio Single Audit, required under federal law to ensure that federal funds allocated to Ohio are being spent appropriately by state agencies, details financial activities from July 1, 2021, through June 30, 2022.

For the fiscal year, the state administered 353 federal programs from 25 federal agencies, with total spending of $46.8 billion.

The total included nearly $29.9 billion from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, about $26 billion of which went to Ohio’s Medicaid programs, providing medical care and services for lower-income residents, older adults, individuals with disabilities, pregnant women, infants and children, and others.

Another $6.6 billion came from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, primarily for assistance related to food and nutrition programs. 

The total number of findings was the lowest it’s been in six years, down from 25 findings in FY2021, 38 in FY 2020, and 33 in FY 2019. 

Auditors noted questioned costs related to Medicaid, regular and pandemic unemployment insurance, and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), including:

Nearly $2.2 million attributed to insufficient documentation that reviews or actions were taken as a result of crossmatches of death and prison incarceration records to ensure pandemic unemployment benefits were paid to eligible recipients.

$86,076 in questioned pandemic unemployment payments, including duplicate payments, payments exceeding maximum amounts, and payments to ineligible recipients.

$591,519 Medicaid benefits paid to ineligible recipients or related to improper capitation payments to managed care providers.

$3,629 in incorrectly issued SNAP benefits.

The 2022 State of Ohio Single Audit included two findings for recovery against state employees, one of which had not yet been repaid.

A copy of the full report is available online via Search Audits (ohioauditor.gov/auditsearch/search.aspx).

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The Auditor of State’s office, one of five independently elected statewide offices in Ohio is responsible for auditing more than 5,900 state and local government agencies. Under the direction of Auditor Keith Faber, the office also provides financial services to local governments, investigates and prevents fraud in public agencies, and promotes transparency in government.