Audit Report on the Department of Environmental Protection’s Billing and Collecting of Water and Sewer Charges from Private Hospitals

AUDIT REPORT IN BRIEF

The Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) provides water and sewer services to all hospitals operating in New York City; however, only private hospitals are directly responsible for water and sewer charges¹. DEP maintains customer account information, bills customers for water and sewer charges, and tracks payments in its Customer Information System (CIS). DEP’s Management Analysis Unit (MAU) is responsible for monitoring private hospitals’ outstanding water and sewer charges and collecting those charges.

This audit determined whether DEP is properly billing private hospitals for water and sewer use and making efforts to collect all outstanding charges. As of June 30, 2007, the 58 private hospitals operating in New York City had outstanding charges totaling $13.4 million ($14.7 million owed less $1.3 credit balances). (See Appendix I for a list of the 58 hospitals and their outstanding balances as of June 30, 2007.) Although 26 hospitals paid all or nearly all of their outstanding balances within one month, 32 hospitals did not pay their balances.

Audit Findings and Conclusions

In general, DEP is billing hospitals for water and sewer charges properly, in accordance with its policies and procedures and the “New York City Water Board Water and Wastewater Rate Schedule.” However, we noted the following significant internal control weaknesses regarding DEP’s collection practices:

• DEP cannot readily identify all hospital accounts; therefore, it cannot track outstanding hospital water and sewer charges efficiently and effectively. We identified 313 hospital accounts that were not included in a MAU management report used to track hospitals’ outstanding water and sewer charges. As of June 30, 2007, outstanding charges on these accounts totaled approximately $2.2 million.

• DEP cannot aggregate charges common to a single customer. According to DEP officials, collection efforts should begin when customers owe $50,000 or more for more than 30 days. However, since charges are not aggregated and the MAU’s management report does not include all hospitals and their associated accounts, DEP is not aware of when the $50,000 threshold is actually met.

• DEP has not instituted written collection policies and procedures for its staff to follow when billing and pursuing collection from hospitals.

As a result of these weaknesses, DEP does not make timely and appropriate collection efforts. As of June 30, 2007, 32 of 58 private hospitals had outstanding charges totaling $12.6 million ($13 million owed less $354,912 credit balances) and had made payments totaling only $2 million by July 31, 2007. (See Appendix II for a list of the 32 hospitals and their outstanding balances as of June 30, 2007, and payments made on those accounts in July 2007.) Given that eight of these hospitals are in bankruptcy and/or recommended for closure, DEP may not be able to recover all charges it is owed.

Audit Recommendations

To address these findings, we make nine recommendations, including that DEP should:

• Actively pursue collection of total outstanding water and sewer charges from private hospitals.

• Create a comprehensive list of all private hospital accounts by surveying hospital properties and identifying all meters and their associated accounts.

• Make timely and appropriate collection efforts. DEP should contact a designated private hospital official when total outstanding charges are $50,000 or more for more than 30 days, inform the official of the outstanding charges, and attempt to secure payment in full or to enter into payment agreements.

• Investigate the feasibility of aggregating private hospitals’ water and sewer charges on CIS and sending comprehensive bills to designated private hospital officials.

• Institute written policies and procedures that address the duties and responsibilities of key employees responsible for the billing of private hospitals and the collection of charges due.