DHHS kept critical CDC review to itself
A Sun Journal investigation found state officials kept secret an April report evaluating the Maine Centers for Disease Control’s grant award process, despite concerns from lawmakers about administration of the program.
The paper reported the Department of Health and Human Services’ internal review of the CDC grant process was completed the same day that the state’s Government Oversight Committee agreed to seek a state investigation of the agency. The oversight group’s report on grant awards through the Healthy Maine Partnerships program was completed last week and found evidence that program supervisors were directed to shred documents justifying the award of $4.7 million for the grant program and that selection of the grant recipients may have been improperly manipulated.
Despite the internal report’s finding that the grant process had shortcomings that “raise difficult questions about the overall integrity and credibility of the selection process,” it was not disclosed to lawmakers upon completion in April. Two Democratic lawmakers from Lewiston who had raised questions about the Healthy Maine Partnerships program for over a year told the paper they did not know about the internal report.
The agency and governor’s office said that the internal review meant only to evaluate and improve the grant program’s scoring process and, for that reason, was shared only with DHHS leadership.
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