Mutual Ground

Department of Justice 2022-001 Crime Victim Assistance Program Criteria: Under the grant agreements, Mutual Ground, Inc. is required to have in place, policies and procedures to ensure the confidentiality of client information. Condition: Out of the 40 clients tested for eligibility, 2 of the files tested did not contain the signed confidentiality forms in the files. Cause: Mutual Ground, Inc. converted its files from paper to electronic and the confidentiality forms were erroneously excluded from the transfer for these two files. Effect: There is potential that Mutual Ground, Inc. was not following appropriate confidentiality procedures. Auditor?s Recommendation: We recommend Mutual Ground, Inc. review its files to ensure that all client files contain the required confidentiality forms. Management response: During this reporting period, Mutual Ground, Inc. instituted an electronic case management system. As we moved from paper to this more technologically efficient system, there were instances in which individuals in crisis were asked to access their email to sign documents. This proved to be difficult for staff to navigate with clients during the transition and confidentiality forms were missed. Our staff have now learned different ways to navigate our new system to ensure forms are signed. To eliminate/catch this from happening in the future, we have implemented a system in which each manager conducts electronic file audits on current clients and staff conduct peer reviews of files to catch any missing documents during their group supervision time.