| Organization: | Office of the State Auditor |
|---|---|
| Date published: | March 20, 2025 |
Executive Summary
In accordance with Section 12 of Chapter 11 of the Massachusetts General Laws, the Office of the State Auditor has conducted a performance audit of the State Office of Pharmacy Services (SOPS) during the period July 1, 2021 through June 30, 2023.
The purpose of our audit was to determine the following:
- whether SOPS had policies and procedures in place to standardize operations and monitor all prescription functions at facilities across the Commonwealth;
- whether SOPS complied with its internal Policy 2.08 Vendor Contract Overhead Fees;
- whether SOPS complied with General Chapter 797 from the United States Pharmacopeia safety standards and its own Policies 3.01 through 3.04; and
- whether SOPS established and implemented necessary policies, procedures, and related internal controls to ensure that SOPS appropriately sent required reports to the House and Senate Committees on Ways and Means and that the reports were signed by the executive director, as required in Chapter 24 of the Acts of 2021 and Chapter 126 of the Acts of 2022.
Below is a summary of our findings, the effects of those findings, and our recommendations, with links to each page listed.
| Finding 1 | SOPS did not establish or implement policies, procedures, or related internal controls to ensure that it submitted required reports to the House and Senate Committees on Ways and Means. |
| Effect | If SOPS does not submit these reports to the Legislature as required, then it is failing to comply with the law. Also, agencies in the Commonwealth that could be served by SOPS may not know that they have access to pharmaceutical cost savings through SOPS. |
| Recommendation | SOPS should establish and implement the necessary policies, procedures, and related internal controls to ensure that it annually submits required reports to the House and Senate Committees on Ways and Means and that the reports contain all required information and are signed by the executive director. |
Table of Contents
Downloads
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Open PDF file, 275.77 KB, Audit Report - State Office of Pharmacy Services (English, PDF 275.77 KB)