Six-Figure Raises Trigger Audit Calls Of LA County Health Care Firms
LOS ANGELES (CBS) — A report on extravagant pay raises at private healthcare providers has spurred calls for an audit of all salaries paid to providers with county contracts.
Supervisor Michael Antonovich at first urged the board to ask state auditors to look at AltaMed's pay structure after discovering that the chief executive of AltaMed Health Services got raises totaling about $400,000 between 2008 and 2010 and is paid about $797,000 per year.
"Of particular concern is that this agency's revenue is, in large part, based on public taxpayer dollars," Antonovich said.
He recommended a state audit, because AltaMed's funding comes from multiple state, federal and local government sources.
Supervisor Gloria Molina suggested that the county auditor handle the investigation. She said the report should include all private healthcare providers that get county funding.
"It's not the only one," Molina said, referring to AltaMed paying its top executive nearly $800,000 per year.
According to its website, AltaMed is the state's largest nonprofit "Federally Qualified Health Center" with annual revenues of more than $180 million. It provides more than 650,000 annual patient visits at its 43 medical, dental and senior care centers in Los Angeles and Orange counties.
Since a full audit would touch on hundreds, if not thousands, of contractors, auditors will look at a sample of nonprofit hospitals, community clinics, mental health providers and foster and group homes that receive county
funding.
The board also asked the county's auditor-controller to make recommend about how to deal with contract health providers, including the possibility of enforcing relevant federal guidelines in county contracts or setting compensation limits as part of county policy.
The board's vote was 4-0 in support of the audit.
Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas was absent at today's meeting.
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