Auditor General DePasquale Commends Hollidaysburg Veterans Home for Increasing Patient Care While Saving Nearly $500,000
Auditor General DePasquale Commends Hollidaysburg Veterans Home for Increasing Patient Care While Saving Nearly $500,000
Contracting therapeutic services resulted in more care for veterans at a fraction of cost
DUNCANSVILLE, Blair County (Feb. 23, 2015) – Auditor General Eugene DePasquale said today that a decision to contract therapeutic services at the Hollidaysburg Veterans Home increased care for veterans while saving taxpayers $478,399.
A recent audit by DePasquale’s office found that the cost for therapy services dropped from $102 to $3 per hour when Hollidaysburg Veterans Home and the state Department of Military and Veterans Affairs decided to contract-out therapeutic services, beginning in March 2011.
“Veterans are receiving more of the therapy care they need and taxpayers are paying less money,” DePasquale said. “That is outstanding. This is an enormously successful program and an example of how the state can effectively use its Request For Proposal (RFP) process.”
Hollidaysburg Veterans Home decided to contract for physical, occupational and speech therapy services, rather than continue with a nine-person, in-house therapy staff.
According to the agreement, the vendor bills Medicare B or other third-party insurers directly. The vendor pays Hollidaysburg a $103,947 annual licensing fee for use of the facilities. Hollidaysburg pays the vendor for any co-pay or deductibles not covered by Medicare B or other third-party insurer.
In the 2012 fiscal year, Hollidaysburg owed the vendor $47,501 for therapy services. In comparison, the in-house therapy service at Hollidaysburg cost $525,900 in 2010.
In addition, the number of yearly patient therapy hours increased by 11,156 with the contracted vendor – from 5,160 hours with the in-house service to 16,316 hours with the outside vendor.
“The numbers speak for themselves,” DePasquale said. “With more hours of care at lower costs, this was an excellent decision by the leadership at Hollidaysburg Veterans Home and the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs.”
The audit, which covered July 1, 2011 to June 30, 2013, includes two other findings:
• In a four-month test sampling, the veterans home paid $24,700 for medications it should have received for free, if the proper resident eligibility and attendance benefits were established. The money did not come out of the veterans’ pocket. The cost was carried by the state, rather than the federal government.
• Hollidaysburg did not effectively monitor all its contracts for medical services and did not ensure that the facility received all contracted physician services hours. In a sampling of six residents who required skilled nursing care, auditors found that physician visits ranged from two days to 39 days late and were, on the average, 13 days late. Management attributed the delays to issues with a scheduling calendar or not properly documenting the physician visits.
As noted in the audit report, Hollidaysburg management agreed with the audit findings and plans to implement audit recommendations.
Hollidaysburg is one of six state veterans homes operated by the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs. The home had a $48.23 million operating budget in 2013; including $30.37 million in state funding and $17.86 million in federal funding. Hollidaysburg has 514 beds for domiciliary, personal, nursing and dementia care.
A copy of the Hollidaysburg Veterans Home audit report is available online here.
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