Hospital Audit Shows Less Revenue on Hand Than Believed

A routine audit of HSHS St. Anthony's Memorial Hospital in Effingham has determined that net patient revenue of the hospital had been overstated by $7 million.

HSHS Southern Illinois Division Director of Marketing and Communications Terriann Tharp said the audit also determined that no HSHS colleagues personally benefitted from what was identified as an accounting error. Tharp said the accounting error did not affect cash from operations or foundation funds.

Tharp confirmed that it's not a situation where money is missing, but the hospital doesn't have as much in revenues as it was thought they did.

Tharp said, "We are working to ensure a similar error does not occur in the future."