State Auditor: Framingham State University Improved Health Enrollment Procedures

Massachusetts Auditor Suzanne Bump said an audit of Framingham State University,  found the University has improved enrollment procedures for its student health plan.

These changes come after University identified two former students who were enrolled although they had not been University students for over eight years.

“I applaud Framingham State University for its quick response to the situation and willingness to improve its operations,” said Bump in a press release. 

The audit was initiated as a result of a Chapter 647 report that University filed with Office State Auditor.  Chapter 647 of the Acts of 1989 requires all state agencies to report the loss or theft of state property with the Office State Auditor.

The audit makes public that the daughter and son-in-law of an University employee were enrolled in the student health plan despite not being students for over eight years. The employee inappropriately enrolled the two by abusing her access to university databases. The report notes that the former students were able to be added to the health plan because the university maintains all student accounts indefinitely with no restrictive access to inactive accounts.

Upon identifying the two inappropriate enrollments, the University terminated the employee in question and notified the health plan administrators and insurance providers, who retroactively terminated the two policies.

The University also forwarded information to the Massachusetts State Police regarding the matter.

Audit tests revealed no other occurrences of fraud or abuse regarding ineligible enrollment in University’s health plan. 

University has since revised its policies and procedures to include a check each semester to verify that all students enrolled in its health plan are eligible fulltime students. 

The report recommends that the University review its controls over inactive student accounts to determine if additional procedures are needed to prevent unauthorized access and use and applauds its compliance with Chapter 647 requirements. 

The Office of the State Auditor conducts financial, performance, and technical assessments of state government’s programs, departments, agencies, authorities, contracts, and vendors. With its reports, the OSA issues recommendations to improve accountability, efficiency, and transparency.