NC health grant program suspended following audit

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) – North Carolina’s health department has
suspended a program designed to improve the health of minority
residents and others after an internal review found fiscal and
management irregularities.

The Division of Public Health said Friday it suspects misuse of
state funds involving the Community Focused Eliminating Health
Disparities Initiative. The internal audit’s findings were provided
to the State Bureau of Investigation.

The state-funded initiative was responsible for $2.8 million in
grant money to 34 organizations during the past fiscal year.
The division says personnel changes have occurred within the
state office that administers the grants, but didn’t say where the
changes occurred. The next round of grants are now expected this
summer.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Human Services
didn’t immediately return messages seeking more information.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)