UofL President Ramsey’s Request for the QCCT Audit

I was able to obtain a copy of the communication sent by UofL President James Ramsey to State Auditor Adam Edelen that the University believes initiated the Auditor’s review of the University’s use of the QCCT supporting indigent care at University Hospital. Some of us believe that this audit was inevitable and that the University simply wanted to put their best face on a potentially threatening situation. Why stand in front of a freight train? [Of course, this analogy seems not to work with respect to the University’s claims that its Hospital, various boards, foundations, and other units are private!] Here follows the text of the facsimile sent to Frankfort.

Fax:
January 12, 2012
Mr. Adam Edelen
Auditor of Public Accounts
Frankfort, KY 40601
Dear Mr. Edelen:

It was great seeing you at our recent basketball game.

Please consider this a request for your office to conduct a review of the recent Quality and Charity Care Trust audits to ensure that the funding for this important program is in fact utilized to provide the best health care to the underserved in our community and State.

Sincerely,
James R. Ramsey, President

Note that President Ramsey is not asking for a review of the QCCT’s organizational structure, how it is managed by the University, or whether it is being utilized in faithfulness to the controlling contracts with state and local government. Neither did President Ramsey ask for a financial audit of the hospital or University. What he requested was that the Auditor’s office review some preexisting audits done as part of the University’s own annual audit. As the Auditor’s final report notes, there is no evidence that these audits were ever even shown to the QCCT’s own Board of Trustees! I suppose it is a positive thing that someone should be asked look at them!

It is my understanding that the Auditor’s office does not customarily conduct reviews of outside audits simply to attest to their accuracy or completeness, but only examines outside audits as a part of broader examinations and reviews. The Auditor’s office had to have been aware of the ongoing community controversy, recognized that there were broader issues, and expanded the scope of the review beyond that requested by President Ramsey. It is good for all of us that the it did! The report was polite, as usual, but did not support the University’s opinion of itself. You can judge for yourself whether the University managed your money appropriately. It certainly had a free hand to do so.

To his credit, and on behalf of the University of Louisville, President Ramsey asked if the QCCT “is in fact being utilized to provide the best health care to the underserved in our community and in the State?” I thought the Auditor’s report was a disaster for the University. It seems to me that the most positive spin that might come out of the report is “No Comment.” The community discussion on how to answer President Ramsey’s question has not yet begun. It is past time. I have put my two cents worth in in these pages. Where is yours?

Peter Hasselbacher, MD
25 May 2012

Emeritus Professor of Medicine, UofL
President, KHPI