Staff writer
St. Luke Hospital board members discussed a program Tuesday that’s at the heart of a controversy between Lanning Pharmacy and the hospital before assigning incoming chief executive Alex Haines to tackle the problem.
Haines’s first day is today.
Board member Byron Lange questioned whether the pharmacy should be paid a monthly oversight fee for the program. The pharmacy is $30,000 behind on payments to the hospital, Lange said. He wanted to discontinue paying the pharmacy for oversight.
Board member Chris Mercer disagreed.
“Whatever happened to the audit they wanted?” board member Dan Holub asked.
Several board members and hospital employees said the audit still was being worked on.
Lange said that he had learned the pharmacy “has been doing this wrong for a long time and no progress (is) being made.”
Haines said he would look into the situation.
Board member Jeff Soyez asked whether the hospital would have been told if it had not passed an audit by the Health Resources and Services Administration.
“Do we have something you can print out to show that we are approved to participate in 340b?” Soyez said.
Lange said if he didn’t see “a bunch of people” in person at board meetings, he was “not going to get excited about it.”
In other matters Tuesday, board members approved two resolutions to substitute Haines’s name for former chief executive Jeremy Ensey’s as signatory on St. Luke Hospital and Living Center retirement and Section 457(b) plans.
The also heard reports on administrative, medical staff, finances, nursing, quality assurance, and services for the aging.