The audit of a discretionary fund at Cooper Green Mercy Hospital in Birmingham, Ala., has revealed a series of concerns, according to a Birmingham News report.
The fund contained about $1.7 million in deposits from October 2006 through July 3, 2012 — the time span the audit analyzed. Few people, including county commissioners, knew about the discretionary fund, according to the report.
The news report contains a series of concerns identified by the audit, a few of which are described here.
• The review found in 54 out of 153 disbursements closely examined that hospital personnel could not find complete supporting documentation.
• Nearly $390,000 from the fund was paid to vendors for invoices that were past due but not yet approved for payment by the commission.
• The audit identified $74,000 from the fund spent on the renovation of the hospital's palliative care unit. Hospital personnel told the auditor the decorator worked pro bono, with the only expenditures being the cost of furnishings and decor. Hospital personnel could not provide a copy of a signed agreement with the vendor, however, and there was no evidence that Cooper Green had solicited bids for the furnishings and decorations that were bought, according to the report.
• The auditor also found a $50,000 loan from the fund to a physician for a business he owned and for referrals of patients to the hospital by that physician for clinical, laboratory and radiological studies. Hospital personnel told the auditor those referrals were intended to generate revenue for the hospital, and the loan would be forgiven based on the volume of that revenue. The physician asked the hospital to forgive the loan based on referrals, grants and other revenues in November 2011, according to the report.
Last week, a county commission voted to shutter inpatient services at the hospital. Cooper Green Mercy will stop admitting patients and the emergency department must be closed by Dec. 1.
Protestors Spur Delay in Decision of Cooper Green Mercy Hospital's Future
Supporters to Protest Cooper Green Mercy Hospital's Oncology Unit Closure
The fund contained about $1.7 million in deposits from October 2006 through July 3, 2012 — the time span the audit analyzed. Few people, including county commissioners, knew about the discretionary fund, according to the report.
The news report contains a series of concerns identified by the audit, a few of which are described here.
• The review found in 54 out of 153 disbursements closely examined that hospital personnel could not find complete supporting documentation.
• Nearly $390,000 from the fund was paid to vendors for invoices that were past due but not yet approved for payment by the commission.
• The audit identified $74,000 from the fund spent on the renovation of the hospital's palliative care unit. Hospital personnel told the auditor the decorator worked pro bono, with the only expenditures being the cost of furnishings and decor. Hospital personnel could not provide a copy of a signed agreement with the vendor, however, and there was no evidence that Cooper Green had solicited bids for the furnishings and decorations that were bought, according to the report.
• The auditor also found a $50,000 loan from the fund to a physician for a business he owned and for referrals of patients to the hospital by that physician for clinical, laboratory and radiological studies. Hospital personnel told the auditor those referrals were intended to generate revenue for the hospital, and the loan would be forgiven based on the volume of that revenue. The physician asked the hospital to forgive the loan based on referrals, grants and other revenues in November 2011, according to the report.
Last week, a county commission voted to shutter inpatient services at the hospital. Cooper Green Mercy will stop admitting patients and the emergency department must be closed by Dec. 1.
More Articles on Hospitals and Audits:
Cooper Green Mercy Hospital Officially to Close Inpatient ServicesProtestors Spur Delay in Decision of Cooper Green Mercy Hospital's Future
Supporters to Protest Cooper Green Mercy Hospital's Oncology Unit Closure