Committee authorizes emergency accounting consultant to finish nursing-home Medicaid cost report

The Dunn County nursing-home oversight committee voted to authorize an emergency procurement to retain an accounting consulting firm to complete the county nursing home's Medicaid cost report and provide training while the county recruits a replacement business-office manager.

Carmen, a facility staff member, told the committee the business office manager, Jessica Fenner, resigned last week and that completion of the cost report is time-sensitive because Medicaid reimbursement rates are set from those filings and roughly 70 percent of residents are covered by Medicaid. "We don't have the time necessary to go out to RFP for a project like this before the cost report is due in mid-April," Carmen said, adding the consultant would likely be retained on a roughly six-month retainer and "will likely be more than $5,000," which exceeds the county's informal-bid threshold.

The committee discussed whether the emergency purchase bypasses bidding; Carmen noted the county ordinance permits emergency procurement when timing would jeopardize required filings. Supervisors also asked whether anyone in-house could be trained to do the work; staff said the position has been difficult to fill and that prior incumbents left for different reasons. Committee members pressed that the hired consultant should also train the new hire where feasible.

A supervisor moved to allow use of the emergency process to hire a consulting agency for up to six months; Supervisor Story seconded the motion. The committee called the vote and "all in favor" were recorded with no opposition; the motion passed.

The consultant's scope, the exact contract amount, and the chosen vendor were not specified on the record; Carmen said staff will proceed under the emergency-procurement authority and will post the vacant position. The committee recorded that if the consulting arrangement must extend beyond the short-term retainer, the county would follow normal procurement (RFP/bid) procedures.

Next steps: staff will proceed to secure consultant support under the emergency-procurement clause, post the vacant position for recruitment, and plan knowledge transfer and training for the incoming business-office manager.