THE Office of the Public Auditor is currently conducting an audit investigation of the existing contract between the Retirement Fund and the Hawaii Pacific Medical Referrals following various requests from legislators and private health clinics.
Public Auditor Mike Sablan said the audit’s scope and objectives have been expanded to “sufficiently respond to the various requests.”
Sen. Ramon S. Guerrero, American Reform-Saipan, yesterday said his formal request to OPA was forwarded in May, specifically to determine whether the estimated $700,000 collected by HPMR, as part of the agreement with the Retirement Fund, is deposited in Hawaii or in the CNMI.
Vicente Camacho, chairman of the Retirement Fund’s board of trustees, said in a separate interview that the private clinics that have long been critical of HPMR “just wanted to find something unusual or illegal.”
“The Retirement Fund is open to any kind of audit. These clinics don’t want any contract with a third party administrator because their profit or billings would be reduced. HPMR screens their billings,” Camacho told Variety.
Dr. Vicente Aldan of Saipan Health Clinic earlier described Retirement Fund’s contract with HPMR as “stupid,” and that it is “illegal” to give up the agency’s authority to a third party administrator.
Sablan said the initial request for an OPA audit of the contract was made in Sept. 2001.
“Shortly after OPA’s initial meeting with this individual, several others, including certain members of the Legislature, also requested an audit of the contract as well as OPA’s comments on proposed amendments to the Retirement Fund’s Group Health and Life Insurance Program,” Sablan said.
The public auditor said OPA decided to proceed with the audit based on the results of the “initial audit interviews and survey information, facts, relevance, public interest and materiality.”
“Recently, in the interest of time and priority, OPA decided to separate several of the issues from the main audit and address them in a special report. This special report is now in its final drafting and review phase,” said Sablan.
Recently, HPMR excluded Saipan Health Clinic and Island Medical Center from the list of provider clinics for patients with government insurance.
Aldan of Saipan Health Clinic and Island Medical Center administrator Art Moore said they did not sign the contract with HPMR due to “questionable contract provisions.”
