Review of Tennessee's Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Block Grants for Federal Fiscal Years 2003 Through 2008

摘要

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) block grants are federally awarded funds allocated to establish and implement comprehensive programs for individuals with substance abuse or mental health issues. Pursuant to P.L. No.102-321, these grants provide funding to States for planning, carrying out, and evaluating activities to prevent and treat substance abuse and other related activities. The grants are awarded subject to certain requirements and restrictions, including the requirement that States maintain a certain level of State expenditures (referred to as maintenance of effort or MOE), and that expenditures fall within allotted parameters (referred to as earmarks). The Childrens Health Act of 2000 (P.L. No. 106-310) amended the Public Health Service Act to allow the Secretary of Health and Human Services to waive MOE requirements in some circumstances. In Tennessee (State), the Department of Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities (State agency) administers the Substance Abuse block grant. However, prior to February 23, 2007, the Tennessee Department of Health (DOH) administered the grant. From February to June 2007, grant administration, including programmatic, fiscal, monitoring, and Federal reporting responsibilities were transferred from DOH to the State agency. Our objective was to determine whether the State agency had adequate controls over the expenditure of its Substance Abuse block grant funds.