Question UConn Health on serious issues

The issue: An institution that receives more than a quarter of a billion dollars a year in taxpayers’ money was found to operate with serious deficiencies, a state auditors’ report released two months ago showed.

Some of those deficiencies with the University of Connecticut Health Center in Farmington are shocking. Management lost track of 746 pieces of equipment worth more than $5,000 each. That’s a total of $3.7 million missing, gone, unaccounted for. In a state with ballooning billion-dollar deficits, every million missing is a big deal.

But that’s not all that was in disarray with the operation of the medical and dental school, research center and hospital complex. They kept paying a professor for more than six months after he died. They flouted state policy by rehiring retired state employees. They increased salaries for employees who had approved a consulting contract for a company that engaged the CEO.

The 43-page auditors’ report raised much to probe.

What we said: “When the report was released May 23, state House and Senate leaders were quick to rail against government waste. Some candidates for

governor vied over who was first to call for formation of an Inspector General’s office.

“That was two weeks ago. Since then — not much. ...

“Hearings should be conducted with urgency by the appropriate legislative committees this summer, well before the deadline, which would be Nov. 20.” — June 14, 2018

Some background: By state statute, a hearing must be held within 180 days of the Legislature receiving an auditor’s report. But a lot can happen in that half of a year to divert political attention to other issues.

In a June 8 letter to Democratic committee leaders, state Sen. Michael McLachlan, a Republican from Danbury and co-chairman of the Senate Government Administration and Elections Committee, requested a hearing on UConn Health and other agencies.

Keep in mind: State contributions to UConn Health, including employee benefits, went from $266.1 million in 2013 to $289.3 million in 2016. Most of the hospital’s income derives from patient care, but that sizable of an amount from the state merits oversight of how it is spent.

The May report was not the first red flag. Last year a state auditors’ report uncovered inadequate medical treatment of 25 prisoners, and the death of eight, which led to the state Department of Corrections rightly canceling its contract with UConn Health’s Correctional Managed Health Care Unit.

What’s new: Two legislative committees, the GAE and Public Health, announced Tuesday leaders will hold an informational hearing Monday, July 30, on the serious issues raised in both reports. Although it is informational, the public can testify.

A formal public hearing still will be needed to meet state law before the November deadline. But this informational hearing will enable much-needed questioning more immediately and will allow UConn Health officials to show any progress made in addressing the auditor’s findings.

Those findings were much too serious to wait halfa-year for oversight.

In a state with ballooning billion-dollar deficits, every million missing is a big deal.