For the second time in a month, an audit from the Maryland Office of Legislative Audits found questionable accounting and money management practices at the Maryland Department of Health under the administration of former Governor Larry Hogan.

The most recent report found that the Maryland Medical Care Programs Administration (MCPA) paid $3.6 million to more than 5,600 people who were deceased from 2019 to 2022.

The audit also found that the agency did not investigate or record Medicaid claims that should be paid by third-party providers, meaning that the government could have paid for bills that should have been covered by vendors.

MCPA did not perform proper oversight of claims for medical facilities to ensure that the recipients of services were receiving the proper assistance that was being paid for.

“We determined that MCPA’s accountability and compliance level was unsatisfactory, in accordance with the rating system we established in conformity with state law,” the report states.

The auditors stated that MCPA’s 14.1% job vacancy rate and a cybersecurity breach in 2021 may have been a factor in the missteps.

“The audit, which ends prior to the beginning of the Moore-Miller Administration and the appointment of new leadership at the Department of Health, identifies numerous areas for fiscal and process improvement,” a spokesperson for MDH said. “Some of the findings can be attributed to staffing challenges and challenges relating to the 2021 network security incident. The Department is working quickly and thoroughly to address the findings to ensure a strong, fiscally responsible Medicaid program moving forward.”

The audit comes just weeks after the Office of Legislative Audits found that MDH may have missed out on $1.4 billion in federal reimbursements during the pandemic.