The federal government says the health board on the Rocky Boy’s reservation should repay Washington about $300,000. A Health and Human Services department office of inspector general’s report issued Wednesday says the Chippewa Cree Tribe overpaid salaries and benefits between 2011 and 2013.
The inspector general’s office says the tribe also did not properly document employee and patients’ travel assistance expenses to the tune of $37,000 in 2011 and 2012. It says the tribe "did not have adequate internal controls, and … staff was not adequately trained to ensure … federal funds" were expended "in accordance with federal requirements and the Tribe’s policies."
A statement from the inspector general’s office says the Tribe has described corrective actions that it’s taken or plans to take to prevent future financial errors of this kind, and that those appear adequate. But, the statement says, the Tribe "did not directly address our recommendations that it refund the overpayments to the Federal Government."