As if the next mayor of Philadelphia won't have enough to tackle, he also will need to put the city's Health Department on his to-do list.
City Controller Alan Butkovitz has released a report that concludes that the Health Department is "out of control," with poor management and lax record-keeping.
That's especially a concern because the agency's pharmacists dispense about three times as many prescription drugs as the average pharmacy branch. The potential for theft is significant.
In an audit for 2003-04, the Health Department's managers claimed to be working on a drug-inventory plan. But the new audit disclosed that this system has still not been developed. "It is certainly not reasonable to expect that the theft of a valuable commodity will not occur in the absence of inventory control," the report said.
Nor does the agency verify the quantity of drugs supplied by vendors. Pharmacists at city health centers are supposed to check packing slips to make sure they match the drugs delivered. Auditors found no proof this was being done.
"Even if it were done, the process would be of no use in establishing the accuracy of amounts billed, because no one compares the packing slips against the vendor invoices," the controller said.
Moreover, the Health Department couldn't account for more than 2,000 pieces of equipment worth a total of $3.3 million, including 141 computers, 112 hospital beds and 62 wheelchairs.
And one health center turned up six bottles of expired medicine on its shelves, essentially because the overworked pharmacists are too busy to clean out the outdated inventory.
While Butkovitz said the expired medication was not necessarily dangerous or ineffective, maintaining expired drugs on the shelf is a violation of state law that could result in the city losing its license to operate a pharmacy.
All this troubling news comes a few days after the previous health commissioner was demoted for allowing a veteran food inspector to remain on the city payroll while working a second job in Washington.
That employee was fired, a supervisor was demoted, and another supervisor retired.
Among the options recommended by Butkovitz is for the city to hire more pharmacists to better keep track of the department's drug inventory.
Beyond that, the new mayor will need to take a hard look at the agency's managers in determining how to run a much tighter ship.