Weston County Health Services reports progress on 2024 audit, inventory system and cash controls

Weston County Health Services staff told the board they have advanced work on the hospital’s 2024 financial audit, tightened cash‑management procedures and expect to go live on a new inventory system within weeks.

The updates came during the board’s March finance report, when Chief Financial Officer Tish (reported name) said auditors have begun receiving updated files and the finance office is correcting trial balance postings and GL mapping issues. “We are making good progress,” Tish said. She said most department managers have provided required documentation and that work is ongoing to reconcile posting errors caused during the switch to Sage.

The report said the hospital has addressed several operational points that had affected reconciliation: Epic transmissions to the general ledger had hit bad GL numbers, producing transmission errors; the finance team tracked and reduced accounts payable to about $298,000 with most invoices aged 0–30 days; and the business office has begun emailing invoices to department managers for electronic approval.

Tish said the hospital has engaged a new website vendor to meet CMS price‑transparency requirements and has been in contact with Renee Richards, the hospital’s CMS price‑transparency representative. “As long as we keep a contract, they will let us continue so we can get our new website up and running with all of the requirements embedded in it,” Tish said. She told the board CMS agreed to an extension while the hospital completes its site and required root file elements.

Inventory and billing systems

Tish and the board discussed implementation of Sage inventory and problems moving historical and posting data from Epic. Tish said Wendy, the project manager, Jason Fair (new materials manager) and other staff completed historical data entry and that a vendor representative estimated a 4–6 week timeline from March 2 to a live inventory system that would track department charges and patient billing.

“That will allow us to maintain inventory appropriately, charge our departments and appropriately charge our patients,” Tish said, adding the go‑live date depends on a final check for missing items.

Pharmacy and recoveries

Pharmacy director Suzanne reported a recent initiative to return short‑dated product to manufacturers produced roughly $70,000 in cost savings for the quarter, with about $14,000 recorded as waste because manufacturers do not always reimburse full purchase value. Tish credited the pharmacy director with supervising the program and presenting flow charts of the process for board review.

Cash flow and receivables

Tish presented a tentative cash‑flow projection and said the nursing‑home Medicaid receipts are expected to create spikes in deposits until enrollment stabilizes. She said the finance office found a $1,700 variance tied to credit‑card bank postings and is reprocessing transmissions after a software update. The board was shown AR days for the hospital (reporting hospital AR days at roughly 49.5 days) and Tish said future reports will combine hospital and clinic receivables so the board can see a total AR days figure by payer type.

Audit and intermediaries

Tish said Novitas, the Medicare intermediary for the clinics, completed a desk review; the hospital received about $47,000 and Novitas later recouped $42,000 during their review, an outcome Tish described as “industry standard.” Meridian, the hospital’s Medicare Administrative Contractor (MAC), had not yet completed its desk review. Tish said the finance team set aside the cost‑report receipts pending potential recoupment and corrections.

Why it matters

Hospital leaders told trustees they are closing long‑running accounting gaps, improving invoice workflows and deploying an enterprise inventory system that should increase revenue capture and departmental transparency. The board requested future reports with a monthly bank balance snapshot and clarified additional detail the board wants on AR breakdowns by payer and department.

Ending

Board members asked for continued updates on the Sage go‑live timeline, the CMS website rollout and any remaining reconciliation items. Tish said she will provide revised financial reports and cash‑flow projections to the board for review at upcoming meetings.