Dec. 09--Doctors at the state's Rawson-Neal Mental Hospital in Las Vegas aren't putting in their full eight hours of work each day, with some working as few as two hours a day, according to an executive audit.
The audit estimated the state lost $1.7 million to the doctors' brief schedules.
On Jan. 1, a private company will begin providing medical care to the hospital's patients, replacing most state doctors. The change does not affect psychiatrists at the hospital.
"No state employee will be losing his job" in the transition, Mike Willden, director of the state Department of Health and Human Services, said Friday.
The state doctors have already been transferred to other jobs at the hospital. And private physicians have been hired on temporary contracts to fill in until the end of the year.
The state Board of Examiners will vote Tuesday on a two-year, $1.6 million contract for Wexford Health Services of Pittsburgh, Penn., to supply medical care. Wexford was one of three companies to bid for the contract. The audit recommended that the division consider such things as privatizing hospital doctors or paying the state doctors for hours worked.
Willden said the audit was a "contributing factor" in the decision to bring in a private company to replace the state doctors. But, he added, that the hospital has had a problem recruiting and retaining doctors.
The state spends an estimated $975,000 a year on doctors for the hospital. The contract will yield an annual savings of $150,000 to $175,000.
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