Audit: errors cost NuHealth millions

Nassau County Comptroller George Maragos released an audit of the NuHealth System on Tuesday that included what he called “significant” findings that must be addressed by the public benefit corporation that operates the Nassau University Medical Center in East Meadow. 

According to the audit, which covered January 2009 through June 2010, billing errors, including uncollected payments, resulted in losses of up to $6.5 million for patient services. The audit, Maragos said, detailed 14 “red flags,” including the improper rewarding of about $4 million in contracts, excessive overtime and the mention of an unnamed senior executive who used thousands of gallons of NuHealth fuel for a personal vehicle. 

“Our audit found 14 major operational deficiencies and significant revenue and expense consequences that may partially explain the financial situation being faced by the county hospital,” Maragos said. “We hope that the hospital will urgently address our audit’s findings.” 

After the announcement of the audit’s results on Tuesday afternoon, NuHealth released a statement through its spokeswoman, Shelley Lotenberg. She emphasized that NuHealth operated with a surplus during the period of the audit. 

Furthermore, Lotenberg said, NuHealth’s rate of uncollected payments during that period was the lowest since it took over the system from the county in 1999. Last June, the system announced that it had finished 2009 with a surplus of $804,000, also the first time since 1999. 

Lotenberg described the audit’s projected revenue figures as “overstated.”

“The figures cited by the comptroller’s office are expressed as so-called ‘charges,’ which dramatically overstate the amount of revenue which potentially could have been collected,” she said. “We disagree with many of the comptroller’s findings, and our responses, which were included in the audit, speak for themselves.