Hospital authority approves multiple vendor contracts flagged in internal audit

The Nashville General Hospital Authority voted to approve a group of vendor contracts and contract amendments that had been flagged in a recent internal audit, including an amendment to a trauma registry contract, a three‑year agreement for an in‑office liver‑scanning device, a medical waste disposal contract, a bed‑tracking service and an amendment to an exclusion‑check service.

Board Chair (name not specified) opened the contracting portion of the meeting and introduced the items. "These are two of the contracts that need to come back before the board that were listed as recommendations in the internal audit to bring them into compliance," said Doctor Elders, a board member, before staff presenters described each contract.

Bill Campbell, trauma program manager at Nashville General Hospital, described an amendment to the existing KJ Trauma Consulting agreement, which manages the hospital's trauma registry. "They manage our data collection, the abstraction, the coding of the injuries, the report writing, and then our submissions to the state," Campbell said. He said the hospital is a state‑designated Level III trauma center and is required to submit trauma data quarterly; the contract supports that submission and the related state funding flows. Board materials noted the prior amendment expired June 15, 2023, the current amendment is structured by hours worked, and the new amendment would run from the date of board approval through December 30, 2026. A motion to approve the KJ Trauma Consulting amendment passed with the board voting in favor.

Julie (manager, Endoscopy Center and GI clinics) presented the agreement with Sonic Insights Medical Corp. to provide a Velocar Scan device used to screen liver fibrosis in clinic settings. "The Velocar scan is kind of like an ultrasound," Julie said. She told the board the unit is an in‑office exam that takes about 20 minutes, produces imaging within about 10 minutes and can reduce need for biopsy. The presentation to the board listed an initial price of $45,000 and a three‑year term running to August 17, 2026. Board members questioned the utilization estimate (staff noted a projected 780 scans over three years was used to estimate revenue) and asked whether a clinician who uses the device should present; Doctor Martin said it would be useful to have a user present when clinical equipment is purchased. After discussion, the motion to approve the Sonic Insights contract passed.

Doctor Brown presented a contract for hazardous/medical waste disposal (referred to in board materials as the Trihan contract). Brown said the hospital obtained two additional bids and is recommending a single, bundled contract that combines hazardous waste disposal with shredding and other services previously provided by separate vendors. The recommended vendor's price reflects expected higher disposal volume; Brown said the overall approach was intended to consolidate services for operational simplicity. The board approved the Trihan medical waste disposal contract.

Staff also requested approval to reengage BedWatch, a bed‑tracking product the hospital had used previously. Staff reported the Cerner electronic health record implementation included a bed‑tracking product that proved insufficient, creating a manual process and productivity issues; the prior BedWatch product had an existing interface that reduced integration cost. "Cerner does have a bed watch product, which we did implement. However, it was not nearly as sufficient as the system that we had before," said Miss Thomas (role: staff IT/operations). The board approved returning to BedWatch.

Chrissy Lewis, chief compliance officer, presented an amendment to the ComplianceLine LLC (doing business as Ethico) contract to expand the number of monthly exclusion checks. Lewis said the amendment increases the contract total from $7,370.19 to $9,270.19 to add roughly 2,000 additional monthly checks to cover current and future staff and vendors; she cited regulatory requirements under the Social Security Act and the penalties for doing business with excluded parties. The board voted to approve the amendment.

Board members framed the approvals as steps to satisfy internal audit recommendations and maintain operational compliance. "With these two, what we have to do is provide the link of where they were approved at both board meetings, and that'll satisfy this recommendation," Doctor Elders said. The motions for each vendor were moved, seconded and approved by voice vote with chair calling "All in favor? Aye. Motion passes."