Del. Auditor McGuiness Granted Special Counsel In DHSS Case

Delaware State Auditor Kathy McGuiness said Thursday that the Auditor’s Office has been granted permission to hire outside counsel in its ongoing effort to seek Medicaid eligibility records from the Department of Health and Social Services.

McGuiness has said she and her staff have been trying for months to get documents for an audit, and exercised subpoena power granted to her office to try to get records for a three-year performance audit.

“Thank you to Governor Carney for understanding that having the Department of Justice represent both my office and DHSS in this case was an inherent conflict of interest,” McGuiness said. “Since August, I have had to represent myself and my office in New Castle County Superior Court because the DOJ refused to recognize the subpoena power granted to me in Delaware Code.”

McGuiness mentioned the need for outside counsel during the office’s fiscal year 2023 budget hearing with the Joint Finance committee earlier this week.

“Delaware Code says specifically that the Auditor ‘shall conduct postaudits of all the financial transactions of all state agencies,’” McGuiness added. “Medicaid spends about $2 billion per year in federal and state tax money – and we want to ensure that DHSS is adequately determining who is eligible to receive those benefits.”

“Based on the repeated Single Audit findings, as well as other risk-assessment factors, I know that a performance audit of Medicaid eligibility will be beneficial for DHSS. But instead of complying with my data and access requests, DHSS has chosen to fight over this in court,” McGuiness added.

“This is a great day for Delawareans,” McGuiness concluded. “I fight every day for the state’s taxpayers, and this is an example of a wrong that has been righted. I am grateful to Gov. John Carney and his team for their insight and wisdom in this case.”