Pennsylvania’s older population is falling through the cracks, according to the Pennsylvania Department of the Auditor General.

Auditor General Timothy DeFoor on Wednesday outlined allegations against the state’s Department of Aging.

DeFoor and his team say the department is not doing a good job identifying at-risk older adults and identifying those who might be at risk of harm or mistreatment, among many other accusations.

“If this doesn’t move the needle, then I don’t know what else will,” DeFoor said.

In the 185-page report, the Auditor General details weaknesses he says were found in the way the department monitors elder abuse investigations.

“They’re falling through the cracks of a system designed to protect them,” he said.

The report details 10 findings overall. The Auditor General says the Department of Aging is lacking when it comes to keeping track of how Pennsylvania’s seniors are dying.

He also says the department needs to better investigate possible financial exploitation schemes that scam seniors out of their money.

Additionally, he says the department must do a better job of overseeing county agencies on aging, and especially how local agencies train their staff.

“CAPE needs to be better,” DeFoor said. “CAPE can be better.”

CAPE stands for Comprehensive Aging Performance Evaluation. It’s the Department of Aging’s most recent tool to streamline oversight of its 52 agencies on aging.

“Pennsylvanians need to know the Department of Aging’s CAPE monitoring system has many flaws and weaknesses,” DeFoor said.

The auditor general says the 52 agencies on aging — many of which are in our area — are not under fire. But the tool used by the Department of Aging, he says, is missing the mark to detect when older adults are at risk of harm and mistreatment.

The report also lists 39 recommendations to fix the problems.

DeFoor accuses the Department of Aging of heavily impeding and delaying the investigation.

“In most of our recommendations, instead of accepting the facts, Aging chose to be defensive,” DeFoor said, adding:

“However, AGING has publicly implemented some of our recommendations after we brought these deficiencies to their leadership’s attention during our audit.”

In response, the Department of Aging calls the criticism a “political move,” sending the following statement to 69 News:

“Despite the Department’s full cooperation during the audit period, the Auditor General’s report is inaccurate in its understanding, application, and representation of the regulations, policies, and laws that the Department must follow in its mission to protect older adults, and repeatedly misdefines key metrics, descriptions, and phrases that protective services workers deal with every day.

“Furthermore, by deciding to conduct this audit during the active rollout of the new monitoring tool, the Auditor General was not able to conduct a full, thorough, and accurate review of the Department’s oversight. His office even admitted the audit did not examine case-level data to determine if an older adult was left at risk or in harm’s way because of that new monitoring tool, despite such assertions in their public press conference. This report is incomplete, leaves out vital context, and ultimately does not advance the safety or wellbeing of older adults across the Commonwealth.

“The Auditor General has been in office for nearly six years and has only completed a handful of audits on state agencies over his term — but today, he decided to release an inaccurate, misleading report just weeks before an election. In a craven and transparently political move, the Auditor General completed this report months ago but decided to release this report today in a desperate attempt to help his political allies.

“The Department of Aging remains committed to protecting Pennsylvania’s older adults and ensuring AAAs meet their obligations to do so, as well.”