Oklahoma Gov. Stitt discusses the main audit of the mental health department.
Kevin Stitt Governor solved and inferred the protocol behind the state gratitude for Oklahoma’s mental health department every week in a weekly briefing with the media.
Kevin State Governor Office
Employees of the Oklahoma mental health and drug abuse service had to sign a private contract and be discouraged to cooperate with the investigators who wanted to discover the fundamentals of the financial crisis.
According to a report issued by Cindy Byrd, a state auditor and prosecutor, agency leaders said they maintained workers in the dark, skipped meetings, closed their administrations, employed armed guards, and threatened employees during the meeting. The report did not disclose the details of the threat. The financial issue of the agency was partially accused of “pressure from the current tone of the agency.”
The results of the state auditor came out a day after the announcement of another report that Kevin Stat has released another report commissioned by the agency on Tuesday, May 20. The report, produced by a public accountant, recommended some changes to drill $ 29.9 million and improve finances.
After this report was released, Stitt said he had brutally explored the financial problems of the institution by repeating the support of the Allie Friesen commissioner. Friesen told lawmakers in April that she inherited “confusing” institutions. In May, she said that when the investigation criticized the human resources of the institution when he criticized the “brave enough to face fraud and severe non -ethical behavior”, the investigation said that the personnel of the institution are basicized.
When asked about BYRD’s report, the spokesman of the agency said it was under review. Maria Chaverri, a communication coordinator of the department, said an agency official said that he created a variety of external experts to help to reveal and end “many years of corruption.”
“We are reviewing Cindy Byrd’s documents in the statement, and we are looking forward to further contributions from a third -party investigator and a financial auditor in the next few months.”
The 9 -page report of BYRD was critical of the department’s leadership, but Friesen did not mention it as a name. Bird added that the report was not a final investigation audit by investigating the short -term requirements of the institution.
How much money do Oklahoma’s mental health institutions require?
The report landed two weeks after two weeks after Stitt asked for audit, citing concerns about long -term financial fault management from mental health institutions.
Lawmakers and other state officials are trying to find out how the financial crisis of the agency is too severe and the lack of funds. The agency requires more money to end in June through the fiscal year in 2025, and the amount needed to maintain its condition continues to change.
According to a report by the State Auditor, the agency found that it required $ 28.7 million. List some elements of financial confusion, including the management.
- We did not talk to our employees about internal events learned through the news.
- The director’s structure has changed, so the staff should find them online without knowing who the supervisor is.
The report also cites with the agency’s difficulties that explain the “misunderstanding” demands related to the topic related to the subjects of the agency to maintain the budget of the agency that affects the budget request of the mental health department, and the topic related to the payment of Medicaid growth and pending claims.
The report spent $ 9.4 million in fiscal year 2024 in 2024 as a cost in 2024, which has begun to reduce the current year. Examples of the purchase of NARCAN automatic vending machines, 988 HELP LINE’s promotion costs and paused Donahue behavioral health campus construction projects include “suspicious past expenditures” and accuses that Medicaid’s main economy has increased.
The financial issue of the agency has grown with spending, and the report said according to the report, including a 204% increase in professional service costs between 2018 and 2024. In addition, overall salary costs increased by 49% over the same period.
The report found that in January 2024, 38 people were hired at least $ 100,000, including 21 executives and 17 medical positions in April 2025, when Friesen was appointed by Stitt. According to the report, there were more than 10% wage increase in the same period, according to the report, corresponding to $ 4,073,948 per year.
According to the report, the mental health bureau also did not budget the budget of $ 4.2 million in the recovery of Medicaid because the employees did not know in advance that they were coming.
According to the report, if you switch to management medical care, some processes of the mental health department have been changed, and after the implementation began in April 2024, all claims and payments were delayed.
BYRD’s report includes a preliminary recommendation for institutions, including hiring the chief financial officers who are qualified with state -of -state experiences, and closely investigating the recent and continuous dismissal to see if they are not retaliated.
The report released by Stitt on Tuesday, May 20 was produced by the public accountant David Greenwell and demanded the chief financial officer of the institution with the increase in transparency through dashboards and public reports. The accountant also recommended that the institution would adopt a simplified software accounting system, review indirect costs, and update ethical guidelines.
Oklahoma lawmakers consider a one -time budget for mental health institutions.
The department will maintain a rich state until the next fiscal year to receive about $ 34 million in supplementary payments from the state. The House of Representatives, a general expenditure bill 2766, will be heard in the late Senate this week, and will make $ 27.4 million in the mental health department for salaries. The bill will also re -specify $ 4.1 million in salaries from the right funds for institutions last year.
Last week, when lawmakers announced their budget in 2026, the spokesman for R-FAXON’s Trey Caldwell spokesman said that this fund is part of a legislative plan to prevent bleeding of our organizations.
The legislature will potentially follow another money when the next legislative session begins, and Caldwell added. This money will depend on the 2026 agency’s $ 440 million proposal.
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