A joint hearing of the House and Senate Appropriations subcommittees on the Corrections budget discussed a Michigan Auditor General report on a performance audit of the Department of Corrections’ prescription drug costs for a nearly three-year period ending July 31, 2010. The scathing report found, for example, that the Department of Corrections spent an average of $22.34 per month per prisoner, more than three-times the total of next closest state.
Acting Department of Corrections Director Richard McKeon and other Department executives made no excuses for the findings, reporting only their plans for further investigation into how pharmaceutical costs spiraled out of control, promising accountability. Auditors reported an estimated savings potential of at least $16.5 million.
The most significant finding in the report, issued by Auditor General Thomas McTavish, CPA, last Friday, was the Department’s failure to implement a method of reducing higher-cost anti-psychotic medications with similar, generic versions. According to the report, the elimination of just one widely-used medication would have saved $8.5 million per year.
Both Republican and Democratic members of the House and Senate panels took it relatively easy on Department officials while making clear both their collective disappointment and high expectation for future monitoring and accountability.