Open Recommendations

The Veteran Integrated Service Network Director, in conjunction with facility directors, ensures facility staff scan all community care documents into the patient’s electronic health record within five business days of receipt.

The Veterans Integrated Service Network Director, in conjunction with facility directors, requires facility community care staff to use the significant findings alert to notify the ordering provider of abnormal diagnostic imaging results.

The Veterans Integrated Service Network Director, in conjunction with facility directors, ensures facility community care staff confirm patients attended their appointments and attempt to obtain medical documentation prior to administratively closing consults.

The Veterans Integrated Service Network Director, in conjunction with facility directors, ensures facility community care staff make two additional attempts to obtain community providers’ medical documentation within 90 days of the appointment following administrative closure of consults that are not low risk.

The Veterans Integrated Service Network Director, in conjunction with facility directors, ensures facility community care staff process community care providers’ requests for additional services within three business days of receipt.

The Veterans Integrated Service Network Director, in conjunction with facility directors, ensures facility community care staff send approval or denial letters to community providers for requests for additional services.

The Veterans Integrated Service Network Director, in conjunction with facility directors, ensures facility community care staff send approval or denial letters to patients for requests for additional services.

The Veterans Integrated Service Network Director, in conjunction with facility directors, ensures facility community care staff schedule patients for community care appointments within seven days of consult entry or receipt in the department.

The Veterans Integrated Service Network Director, in conjunction with facility directors, ensures facility community care staff confirm patients attended scheduled community care appointments and received care.

The Veterans Integrated Service Network Director, in conjunction with facility directors, ensures facility community care staff use the Community Care–Care Coordination Plan note to document all care coordination activities for consults with an assigned level of care other than basic.

Direct UNL to provide documentation supporting that it has repaid or otherwise credited the $92,865 in questioned internal service center expenses for which it has agreed to reimburse NSF.

Direct UNL to strengthen its policies and procedures related to internal service center invoicing processes. Updated procedures should ensure that internal service centers only bill for services and materials based on actual usage and/or the approved internal service provider rates.

Direct UNL to strengthen its policies and procedures related to the biennial reviews of internal service centers. Updated procedures could include periodic reviews of internal service centers to determine if they charge $10,000 or more to federal grants.

Resolve the $36,908 in questioned inappropriately allocated publication, lease, and material and supply expenses for which UNL has not agreed to reimburse NSF and direct UNL to repay or otherwise remove the sustained questioned costs from its NSF awards.

Direct UNL to provide documentation supporting that it has repaid or otherwise credited the $43,736 in questioned salaries and fringe expenses for which it has agreed to reimburse NSF.

Direct UNL to strengthen its policies and procedures and internal controls for allocating expenses to sponsored projects. Updated policies, procedures, and internal controls should address how UNL will ensure:
• It charges salaries and fringe benefit expenses to NSF awards consistent with personnel action forms.
• It allocates publication expenses consistent with the benefits received by acknowledged funding sources that contributed to the published research.
• Its personnel document and justify allocation methodologies when charging expenses to NSF awards near grant expiration dates based on the benefit the NSF awards receive from the services and/or materials purchased.
• It appropriately…

Resolve the $2,480 in questioned publication expenses for which UNL has not agreed to reimburse NSF and direct UNL to repay or otherwise remove the sustained questioned costs from its NSF awards.

Direct UNL to provide documentation supporting that it has repaid or otherwise credited the $20,058 in questioned participant support, publication, salary and fringe, and equipment expenses for which it has agreed to reimburse NSF.

Direct UNL to implement additional policies or procedures that address how to ensure it spends participant support funds appropriately, as well as how it will obtain required prior approvals from NSF before re-budgeting participant support funding.

Direct UNL to produce formal written guidance and provide training on how to assess and document the methodology used to allocate publication costs consistent with the benefits received by acknowledged funding sources.

Direct UNL to implement procedures that ensure it does not charge NSF awards for salary and fringe benefits earned after the NSF award expires.

Direct UNL to implement additional procedures that require Principal Investigators to regularly monitor and validate that they incurred expenses charged to NSF awards to benefit the award(s) to which they charged the expenses.

Direct UNL to strengthen its policies, procedures, and internal control processes for applying its indirect cost rates to all direct costs that should be included in its Modified Total Direct Cost base per its Negotiated Indirect Cost Rate Agreements.

Direct UNL to implement additional procedures and controls necessary to ensure it complies with its internal policies when overseeing NSF awards. Updated controls should ensure UNL:
• Verifies that personnel perform and document a quarterly review of expenses for each NSF award each quarter.
• Monitors for approaching project verification statement deadlines and develops procedures necessary to obtain approval of all project verification statements prior to the 60-day deadline.
• Verifies that personnel obtain necessary contract approvals from the procurement department and receive, review, and maintain any required price and rate quotes prior to the final execution of a contract…

Revise its policies and procedures to align with the Uniform Guidance requirement for price to be considered as a factor in evaluating proposals for professional services other than A/E services.