Agency Improves Money Management
The county’s Public Health Services agency has refined its financial management--and brought in more revenue--since a 1993 audit identified the need for improvement, a county auditor said Tuesday.
A follow-up report released last month found the health agency has increased annual revenue by $23,000 by more aggressively recovering costs from government agencies for HIV testing and flu vaccinations.
Jim Tamekazu, county deputy auditor-controller, said the agency also is keeping better track of $8.5 million in grant revenues and $458,000 in cash receipts the agency receives annually.
“I think public health management took a report and looked at that as something they could act on,” Tamekazu said. “They ended up with a better operation.”
Tamekazu said the agency still needs to improve its speed in obtaining state reimbursements and processing grant invoices.
It now takes the health services agency up to seven months to process grant invoices, a procedure Tamekazu said could be shortened to two months. He also suggested requests for state reimbursements could be trimmed to 90 days from current delays of up to six months.
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