(Finance Division, Hospital Letter No. 18) DISPOSITION OF AMOUNTS DEDUCTED FROM SALARIES OF HOSPITAL EMPLOYEES OCTOBER 23, 1923. All deductions from salaries of hospital employees for any service or supplies furnished by the bureau at the hospitals shown on pay rolls paid at hospitals should be totaled and a check drawn to the order of the Treasurer of the United States in the amount of such total. This check should be forwarded with a memorandum statement to disbursing clerk, central office. The pay rolls should be scheduled and entered as an encumbrance in the amount total of all salaries earned, instead of the net amount paid to the employees. The above procedure is necessary in order to maintain the proper charges against the appropriation provided for salaries and the appropriation provided for furnishing the services at hospitals on account of which deductions from salaries are made. HAROLD W. BREINING, Assistant Director. (Finance Service, Hospital Letter No. 19) RETURNED CHECKS BECAUSE OF DEATH OF PAYEE MARCH 5, 1924. In order that there may be uniformity in the method of disposing of checks returned to hospital disbursing agents, you are directed to follow the procedure herein set forth: In complying with the provisions of 1922, Bulletin, No. 2, issued by the General Accounting Office under date of May 22, 1922, relative to checks returned because of the death of payee, any central office check returned to the special disbursing agent should be forwarded to the disbursing clerk, central office. Any check issued by the special disbursing agent and returned because of the death of payee should be recorded at the hospital the same as any other returned check and forwarded to the disbursing clerk, central office, for disposition. No action relative to returned checks other than that outlined above should be taken by the hospital in death of payee cases. HAROLD. W BREINING, Assistant Director. (Finance Division, Instruction No. 1. Obsolete) AUTHORITY FOR PAYMENT OF HOSPITAL CARE JULY 13, 1921. The following instruction is issued for observance by all managers and auditors in the district organizations of the Bureau of War Risk Insurance: 1. When signed by the proper hospital official, card Form 1971-F shall be authority for the payment of hospital care and treatment. HAROLD W. BREINING, Acting Assistant Director. (Finance Division, Instruction No. 2. Canceled by General Order No. 330) JULY 26, 1921. 1. All meal, lodging, and special transportation requests issued on and after August 1, 1921, will be paid by the deputy disbursing clerk of the district in which the requests were issued. 2. The requests will be issued as heretofore, care being exercised to see that they are countersigned by an employee designated by the director for the purpose. There should be at least four such employees in each district, and district managers will submit the names of additional employees for such purpose where, in his opinion, the present force is unable to handle the work satisfactorily. Prior to issuance each request will be stamped as follows: "Send for payment to district office, Bureau War Risk Insurance, (city), -(State)." This stamp will appear in the blank space at the head of the form. The duplicate and triplicate will be retained in the district office, the duplicate being filed alphabetically by claimants and the triplicate numerically. Great care should be exercised in'issuing requests that the correct name of the individual to be served is written thereon; all erasures and changes made prior to issuance should be initialed by the countersigning officer; beneficiaries should be cautioned as to the manner in which the request should be used, and advised that upon loss additional requests will not be issued to them. 3. When the requests are presented for settlement they will be audited the same as other vouchers, and those found to be in proper form will be listed on voucher Form 946, a separate form to be used for each payee. Three copies of each voucher will be prepared, the original, the memorandum copy, and the third copy on white tissue paper. All three copies will be prepared by one operation through the use of carbon paper. The third copy will be retained by the district auditor, the original and memorandum copy to be forwarded to the deputy disbursing clerk. The requests listed on the vouchers will be inserted between the original and memorandum copies and fastened securely to the original. The memorandum copy will be detached by the deputy disbursing clerk and forwarded to the payee with the check. 4. Where several requests are received direct from the individual who furnished the service and it is found necessary to hold one or more of the requests for investigation, requests representing the balance of the claim will be approved for payment and an explanation of the deduction given on the space provided on the voucher to the right of the name and address of the payee. 5. Under no circumstances will bank collection items be held for investigation. Where it is found that some of the requests presented by a bank for settlement have been irregularly used and it is desired to investigate the matter, the requests that are in proper form for payment will be listed on the voucher form and fastened securely to the original voucher copy; the irregular requests will be attached to the memorandum copy of the voucher, together with a communication addressed to the bank asking that their customer submit the requests direct to the district office. NOTE. A similar procedure was adopted in the bureau at the request of several banks. The banks objected to collection items being held while investigation was being made, especially where credit had been extended to the customer on the strength of the claim. 6. When the disbursing clerk's schedule of disbursements is received by the district auditor, the check number will be noted on the third copy of the voucher. The third copy will then be used to post the check number to the duplicate copy of the requests that had previously been filed alphabetically; the third copy will then be placed in the file maintained for memorandum copies of vouchers. HAROLD W. BREINING, Acting Assistant Director. |