State health director Financial and management problems cited by State Auditor Marion Higa in the Adult Mental Health Division already have been corrected or are being addressed, says state Health Director Bruce Anderson.
criticizes auditor’s
report on mental
health services
He says the audit does not account
for more recent progressBy Helen Altonn
haltonn@starbulletin.comIn a report released yesterday, Higa criticized the division for "fostering a quid pro quo environment in which personal gain seems to precede the state's interest."
She said the division hasn't followed procurement rules or provided oversight of contracted mental health services.
Anderson countered that the audit's findings are two years old and the department has made "tremendous progress" in developing community services, tightening the procurement process and overseeing contracts, which are among the auditor's recommendations.
He said he feels the auditor's office doesn't understand that the department has had to move rapidly to carry out court-ordered improvements in the mental health system under a consent decree between the state and U.S. Department of Justice.
Higa said the audit was prompted by a $48-million appropriation to the health department in 2000-2001 to develop community-based mental health services.
She said her office reviewed 20 percent of contracts that were open in 1999-2000 and in the first half of 2000-01 and "millions of dollars were spent without ensuring the maximum purchasing value of public funds."
"Moreover, significant modifications changed the contracts' scopes and circumvented the open competition and fairness principles of the procurement code."
The auditor said the division made incorrect payments to providers in spending $20 million for services contracted between July 1999 and December 2000.
She recommended that mental health services be pre-authorized, which Anderson said would put patients needing emergency care at risk.
She also recommended that the governor require the health director "to review and justify all personal service contracts with former employees that give the appearance of cronyism, conflict of interest and favorable treatment."
A former acting division chief who participated in decisions on contracts later benefited and also was paid by the University of Hawaii while working for the division, she said.
Anderson said mistakes have happened, one of which was hiring the former acting division chief under a service contract. That occurred before the audit and he halted it as soon as he learned about it, he said.
"There was no intentional wrongdoing here, nor was there personal gain on anyone's part," he said. "It was simply trying to get services in place as soon as possible. If anything, there were shortcuts taken that were inappropriate, largely because of the bureaucracy to go through the normal system."
Anderson said he's disappointed with the audit report's "characterization of facts using the terms 'patients at risk of harm,' 'favoritism,' 'thievery' and 'bribery.'"
"These are strong words," he said. "Even more troubling is the lack of specificity and facts to warrant their use in the audit report."
State of Hawaii
