For more than a year after a forensic audit was ordered by the hospital district board of directors, hospital officials maintained that the document was private.
The audit, which was authorized in August 2011, was a mystery that promised to explain, among other things, how Westlake Regional Hospital went into debt in the name of a hospital expansion that never took place.
The forensic audit was authorized at the recommendation of Ken Doran, who served as chief financial officer for Westlake at the time through a contract with Spectrum Health Partners.
Doran painted a picture of a former administration that operated 20 different bank accounts and paid top management well while offering no raises to other staff.
He said he wanted to know where funds went that were allocated for new construction and equipment, describing Westlake as a hospital starved for capital improvements.
“I see no new construction and no new equipment,” he said.
While the board authorized and paid for the document, it later insisted that it belonged to the board’s attorney and was subject to attorney/client privilege. Board members did not see the document, the press was told, but it was discussed during an executive session in November 2011, when the board went behind closed doors to discuss “proposed or pending litigation.” …
To read more, get this week’s issue of the Adair County Community Voice. Newspapers will be in racks throughout the county Wednesday afternoon and in mailboxes Thursday.
By Sharon Burton
snburton@duo-county.com
(The audit report findings can be found online at accvonline.com under headline news.)