Auditor says absentee problem continues at Las Vegas mental hospital

By Cy Ryan

Tuesday, May 1, 2012 | 2:53 p.m.

CARSON CITY — The absentee problem among doctors at the state’s Rawson-Neal Mental Hospital in Las Vegas apparently continues.

“Things are about the same as they were two years ago,” Executive Auditor Warren Lowman told a panel of elected officials Tuesday. Two years ago, auditors found doctors putting in as little as two hours on a shift.

Lowman said a follow-up exam showed doctors working four to five hours of a 10-hour shift.

State Health Officer Dr. Tracey Green, who also runs the hospital, said there had been an inadequate system for monitoring the time spent by doctors at the hospital. Now, there is a full-time medical director, and the doctors are being closely monitored, she said.

The testimony came at a meeting of the Executive Branch Audit Committee, chaired by Gov. Brian Sandoval, who said, “I want to get to the bottom of this.”

Green said some of the doctors who put in the fewest hours have the highest productivity, but she wasn’t able to explain that.

Green told the board the hospital is “moving toward productivity.” There is now a single entry for employees and entry is through key card. Doctors also are required at all meetings.

The 2011 Legislature sliced $975,000 from the hospital’s budget for this fiscal year, and five worker jobs were eliminated.