Chuck Chvala
Senate Majority Leader
State of Wisconsin
Department of Health and Family Services
July 17, 2000
The Honorable, The Senate:
Pursuant to Section
50.04(5)(fr), Wis. Stats., effective June 17, 1998, the Department is required to submit an annual report to the Legislature related to Class A violations committed by nursing homes (including facilities for the developmentally disabled) and forfeitures assessed on nursing homes for those violations.
The Department issued 27 Class A violations to nursing homes between June 1, 1999 and May 31, 2000. The attached chart details these Class A violations, including their original forfeiture amount assessed and the status of their payment.
Two Class A violations were not assessed state forfeitures in accordance with Section
50.04, but were assessed a federal Civil Money Penalty for a parallel federal deficiency. Southdale Health Care Services and Muskego Nursing Home were assessed and paid Civil Money Penalties totaling $12,285.
Due to their Medicaid certification status, Section
49.498 prohibits the state from levying sanctions to a nursing home for violations under both certification standards (Chapter
49) and state licensure standards (Chapter
50).
As a result of their payment to the Medicaid Civil Money Penalty fund, no state forfeitures were assessed to either of these nursing homes.
Sincerely,
Joe Leean
Secretary
State of Wisconsin
Southeast Wisconsin Professional Baseball Park District
July 12, 2000
The Honorable, The Legislature:
Attached please find the Miller Park monthly progress report for the month of June 2000 for your review and consideration. As the enclosed report indicates, Miller Park continues to develop with the District Board's objectives of building the premier baseball facility in the country; scheduled for play Opening Day 2001: within budget: and with strong community participation.
Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or comments regarding the enclosed report.
Sincerely,
Michael R. Duckett, P.E.,R.L.S.
Executive Director
State of Wisconsin
Legislative Audit Bureau
July 28, 2000
The Honorable, The Legislature:
We have completed a review of Maximus, Inc., as part of our comprehensive audit of the state wide implementation of the Wisconsin Works (W-2) program, which is required by Wisconsin Statutes. To address recent concerns about Maximus' administration of the W-2 program in Milwaukee, we reviewed time spent by its W-2 staff on projects outside of Wisconsin; Maximus' use of a temporary employment agency, MaxStaff; its personnel practices; and the appropriateness of its W-2 program expenditures.
We found that improved oversight of time reporting is needed, especially for Maximus staff who travel and work on out-of-state projects. From September 1997 through March 2000, 46 staff in Milwaukee office also worked on other Maximus projects that were unrelated to W-2. In total, 724 hours for these staff were incorrectly billed to the W-2 program, resulting in overcharges of $51,300.
S653
In addition, we found that 72.7 percent of the selected accounting transactions we reviewed, which had resulted in charges of $1.6 million to the W-2 program, lacked sufficient supporting documentation for reimbursement. We identified $138,840 in unallowable costs and questioned an additional $276,407 in expenditures charged the W-2 program. In total, these costs represent 3.2 percent of all direct costs that were not related to staffing. Unallowable and questioned transactions include entertainment expenditures for Maximus employes; donations to various not-for-profit organizations; and expenditures that appear to be excessive or unreasonable. For example, we found that Maximus spent substantially more on advertising --$1.1 million from 1997 through 1999-- than other W-2 agencies did. At least some of these advertising costs appear to have promoted company interests rather than to have provided information to assist prospective W-2 program participants.
The Department of Workforce Development has provided inadequate guidance and oversight to Maximus and other W-2 agencies with which it has contracted; we have included recommendations for the Department to improve its efforts in these areas. We have also included recommendations for Maximus to improve its accounting practices by better recording and documenting stated business purposes for W-2 expenditures.
Finally, we found that the creation and use of MaxStaff is an allowable activity and that indirect costs of $6.6 million that Maximus charged to the W-2 program through 1999 appear to have been allocated based on a reasonable method.
We appreciate the courtesy and cooperation extended to us by Maximus during the course of our review. Maximus cooperated fully and provided access to all of the records we requested.
Sincerely,
Janice Mueller
State Auditor
State of Wisconsin
Legislative Reference Bureau
July 2000
The Honorable, The Legislature:
I am pleased to report that the Legislative Reference Bureau has enjoyed another successful year. And while we remain committed to our tradition of providing quality service to the Wisconsin Legislature, we are also considering ways to improve our service.
To meet the needs of a dynamic legislature, a legislative service agency must continually evaluate itself. We have started this evaluation by asking which of our products and services are most useful, which can we improve, which should we change, and how we can achieve better results. The answers to these questions, as well as our ongoing analysis, will improve our service to the Legislature. We believe that this service will be further enhanced by our move into the new space at One East Main Street, where we will be able to work in close proximity to the Legislative Council and the Legislative Fiscal Bureau.
We look forward to celebrating the LRB's centennial in the coming year. As the oldest legislative service agency in the nation, we are justly proud of our record of service. With your continued interest and support, we will be ready to embark on our second century of service to the Wisconsin Legislature
Sincerely,
Stephen R. Miller
Chief
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State of Wisconsin
Office of the Governor
July 20, 2000
The Honorable, The Senate:
I am pleased to nominate and with the advice and consent of the Senate, do appoint Stolpman, Kathleen F.,
of Brookfield, as a member of the Council on Domestic Abuse, to serve for the term ending July 1, 2003.
Sincerely,
TOMMY G. THOMPSON
Governor
Read and referred to committee on Human Services and Aging.
State of Wisconsin
Office of the Governor
July 20, 2000
The Honorable, The Senate:
I am pleased to nominate and with the advice and consent of the Senate, do appoint Weddle
, McArthur,
of Milwaukee, as a member of the Psychology Examining Board, to serve for the interim term ending July 1, 2002.
Sincerely,
TOMMY G. THOMPSON
Governor
Read and referred to committee on Health, Utilities, Veterans and Military Affairs.
State of Wisconsin
Office of the Governor
July 20, 2000
The Honorable, The Senate:
I am pleased to nominate and with the advice and consent of the Senate, do appoint Precia
, Joyce I.,
of Waukesha, as a member of the Board of Nursing, to serve for the interim term enidng July 1, 2003.
Sincerely,
TOMMY G. THOMPSON
Governor
Read and referred to committee on Health, Utilities, Veterans and Military Affairs.
State of Wisconsin
Office of the Governor
July 20, 2000
The Honorable, The Senate:
I am pleased to nominate and with the advice and consent of the Senate, do appoint Hammes
, Jon D.,
of Mequon, as a member of the Medical College of Wisconsin Board of Trustees, to serve for the term ending May 1. 2006.
Sincerely,
TOMMY G. THOMPSON
Governor
Read and referred to committee on Health, Utilities, Veterans and Military Affairs.
State of Wisconsin
Office of the Governor
July 20, 2000
The Honorable, The Senate:
I am pleased to nominate and with the advice and consent of the Senate, do appoint Kundert, John F. "Jack",
of Monroe, as Secretary of the Department of Financial Institutions, to serve for the term ending at the pleasure of the Governor.
