At Monday’s Carroll County Supervisor meeting, the board discussed the latest pandemic issue; a shortage of testing supplies. During committee reports, Supervisor, Dean Schettler, gave a synopsis of a recent Carroll County Board of Health meeting. He says Dr. Kyle Ulveling, Chief Medical Officer at St. Anthony Regional Hospital, broached the subject.
Schettler says they discussed the estimated need.
With COVID funds available, he does not believe the county should stand in the way of acquiring testing supplies for the various sites throughout the county.
However, he says, after sleeping on it, he thought of a grey area. Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at St. Anthony, John Munson, and Eric Salmonson, a CPA and assistant controller, had presented a spreadsheet which showed more than $62,000 in vaccine clinic revenue. Schettler says after thinking about it, he wondered why they were coming to the county when they have this surplus from vaccinations which were coordinated by Carroll County Public Health. County Auditor, Kourtney Irlbeck, asked if there was an offset on the $62,000 needed for the use of St. Anthony software and personnel to process the vaccination billings. Schettler says it was unclear whether or not this was a net or a gross number. Supervisor, Stephanie Hausman, asked about the accounting trail.
Schettler says he has asked these questions as well. Every other dollar that goes to Public Health is filtered through the auditor’s office, but these funds are not.
All of the supervisors say they appreciate the good relationship and working partnership they have with St. Anthony Regional Hospital, but this is a different situation than what anyone has ever dealt with before. They believe it will take time to work out the appropriate way to utilize and track the funding received and have given the authorization to purchase the necessary testing supplies. The entire conversation on this topic can be found included below.
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