By Sarah Ladd
Kentucky Lantern
The U.S. Office of the Inspector General says 75 contracted employees in Kentucky didn’t complete background checks before providing COVID-19 testing on K-12 school property.
This finding comes from a Health and Human Services audit report, released Friday, that says Kentucky did not “effectively monitor the implementation of the COVID-19 screening testing program.”
The audit, conducted from July 2023 through March 2025, says the state needs to “determine the allowability” of about $4.5 million in testing expenditures and “refund to the federal government any unallowable amount.”
The report includes a written response from former Cabinet for Health and Family Services Secretary Eric Friedlander dated April 29. In that, Friedlander said the state agrees with part of the analysis — that Kentucky needs to update its procedures to make sure it is following federal contract guidelines and properly overseeing compliance.
On the recommendation that the state analyze more than $4 million in testing money and possibly reimburse part of it, the cabinet’s response states: “all parties believe this has been resolved to mutual satisfaction.”
“Kentucky acknowledges that testing and reconciliation of testing was a rapidly evolving process that improved with time and experience,” the cabinet’s response states. “The Department for Public Health has communicated with (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) project officer staff regarding the audit recommendation and anticipates support from CDC as all acknowledge that activity occurred within the scope of work of the award and work was performed consistent with grant requirements.”
In a statement, cabinet spokeswoman Kendra Steele said the state “made full use” of the federal dollars to test students and “these efforts helped protect lives.”
“The COVID-19 pandemic was a time of global crisis, and ensuring that Kentucky’s K-12 students, teachers and other school staff could quickly and safely return to in-class learning was a top priority,” she said. “While there is always room for improvement, Team Kentucky rose to the challenge during an unprecedented time and did what was needed to protect Kentuckians.”
Kentucky was one of many state and local health departments to receive American Rescue Plan funding during the pandemic from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to help screen for COVID-19 and reopen schools.
Kentucky received about $134 million on April 7, 2021, to help screen for COVID-19 in school. Of that money, $128.9 million went to 1.4 million COVID-19 tests conducted by 19 vendors, the report says. The rest, $5.5 million, went to other costs like air purifiers in schools and administrative support. The state then contracted vendors from July 15, 2021, to June 30, 2022, to do the screenings.
The state “maintained adequate documentation” for about $49 million of American Rescue Plan dollars, the report said.
Still, the report alleges:
• Of the 19 vendors that were awarded testing contracts, seven did not meet at least one of the requirements for providing testing services for students and staff in K-12 schools.
• Kentucky did not monitor the vendors to ensure background-check documentation was obtained or maintained for contracted employees who performed COVID-19 testing on K-12 school district property prior to commencing work, which is required under federal and contract requirements.
• An estimated 292 of 2,120 contracted employees who were looked at for the report did not have background checks completed before performing COVID-19 testing on K-12 school district property.
• One of the vendors said it had been in business for at least one year but had only been in business for nine months when it submitted the application to test. This error occurred because the vendor was not required to submit documentation, other than the attestation, to support it had been in business at least a year. This vendor, not named in the report, was paid approximately $69 million for COVID-19 testing.
• Six vendors were paid $9.7 million for testing services despite not meeting all the contract requirements.
• One vendor didn’t provide evidence that it performed COVID-19 tests.
• Kentucky did not properly document the monthly reconciliation of the COVID-19 testing invoices for each vendor during the contract period.
Kentucky Lantern is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Kentucky Lantern maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jamie Lucke for questions: info@kentuckylantern.com.