Audit panel calls for more changes for medical school

Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2000 | 10:53 a.m.

A follow-up audit to one conducted two years ago that showed serious financial problems at the University of Nevada School of Medicine will be delivered Friday to the Board of Regents' audit committee.

Rocked by an original audit that showed that the school, because of mismanagement, was $2.2 million in the red in 1998, officials started to see a turnaround last year following the implementation of seven of 13 proposed changes.

The four-member audit committee is expected to recommend to the full 11-member board approval of the remaining six points of the "practice plan," a required blueprint for physicians to treat patients and generate profit for the school.

The recommendations deal with oversight for better financial accountability.

"It is like night and day -- we were in the dark (in 1998) and now we are in the light," Regent Mark Alden, the Audit Committee chairman, said. "I am confident with oversight in place that we will remain out of the dark ages.

"The school has been making money, but has been using it to pay off the old debt."

Alden said the mismanagement that led to the seven-figure deficit included improperly trained billing personnel collecting $500,000 to $700,000 less than what could have been raised.

Regent Douglas Roman Hill, another committee member, said the improvements can be attributed to taking the operation of the school out of the hands of doctors and putting it under the business and finance experts of the University and Community College System of Nevada -- one of the recommendations adopted last year.

"The purpose was to give us a starting point to know where we are and to evaluate it (the school)," Hill said.

The remaining points of the audit include a review of whether to switch to centralized billing, requiring oversight for new contracts and developing job descriptions for nonfaculty positions such as nurse practitioners and doctor assistants.

Alden praised the recent work of Dr. Robert Miller, who took the helm of the School of Medicine in November, while Hill credited Ashok Dhingra, vice president of administration and finance, for his role in the turnabout.