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Ascension seton bill pay8/1/2023 Central Health spent $315,000 on the last performance review, which was conducted by Germane Solutions and Whitecap Health Advisors and delivered in January 2018. The Central Health board sets its budget and its tax rate, but both have to be approved by the Travis County Commissioners Court.Ĭentral Health has promised to commission an independent performance audit every five years. "Transparency through independent reviews is essential to what we do," Geeslin said.Ĭentral Health is governed by a board of managers, four of whom are appointed by the Austin City Council, four of whom are appointed by the Travis County Commissioners Court and one who is a joint appointment by those two entities. Its audits are done by an outside firm and have been clean. In the past three years, Central Health's budget has received a distinguished budget presentation award by the Government Finance Officers Association. Central Health's 2022 budget of $506 million includes $491 million for delivering health care, $13 million for administration and $2 million for debt service. In 2021, Central Health said it provided health care for more than 147,000 people at 204 clinics, urgent care centers and hospitals around Travis County.Ĭentral Health already does an annual independent audit for its fiscal year, which runs Oct. The commissioners went into an executive session to discuss the resolution, using the consultation with attorney exception.Ĭentral Health, which was created by voters in 2004, receives 11.1814 cents per $100 property valuation in taxes from Travis County property owners for the purpose of providing health care for people who cannot afford health insurance but do not qualify for such federal programs as Medicaid, Medicare or the Children's Health Insurance Program. "It's time for a healthy look inside with some transparency and accountability and some documentation," said Bill Bunch, an attorney best known as the executive director of the Save Our Springs Alliance. "Our taxpayers deserve to know where every dollar goes," said LULAC District Seven's Frank Ortega. Supporters of the audit made comments Tuesday afternoon. "It's just an expenditure that is not necessary," she said. Many, like Maria Emerson of the Texas Anti-Poverty Project, noted that an additional audit is redundant. On Tuesday morning, supporters of Central Health made public comments. That group, which has been led by attorney Fred Lewis, and with support from the League of United Latin American Citizens District Seven and Nelson Linder of the Austin NAACP, has been asking the commissioners for this performance audit for several months. Some community members filed a lawsuit in 2017 against Central Health for what they say is a lack of transparency in how taxpayer money is being used. The vote for the audit comes as community members are calling for an additional performance audit beyond one that was already scheduled and asking for more accountability in the way taxpayer money is spent by Central Health. More: 'We're getting there': Austin's Dell Children's hospital keeps taking steps toward its lofty goals It's a way for the community to provide input.". "It's a way we look at what it is we've done and where we're going. "We support performance reviews," said Central Health President and CEO Mike Geeslin. The county procurement office will work in consultation with the Central Health board to commission an independent firm to do the audit, which will be paid for by Central Health. Commissioners Ann Howard and Margaret Gómez will form a subcommittee to oversee the process. The vote on Tuesday confirms that Central Health will begin that process and present the findings next year. It is different than an annual audit, which looks at how money is spent each year.Ĭentral Health's next performance audit was already scheduled to take place in 2023. On Tuesday, Travis County commissioners voted to formally require Central Health, the county's hospital district, to do a performance audit.Ī performance audit looks at how the entire operation is run and makes recommendations for needed changes. That question, raised by a group of residents, has made its way to Travis County's top leaders. Should the public health care agency be doing more to make sure the organizations that get those funds are actually spending them the way they are intended? Millions of dollars in taxpayer money flow through Central Health every year, most of it going to hospitals, community clinics and the University of Texas Dell Medical School. Watch Video: Austin health care workers first to receive Pfizer coronavirus vaccine
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