The Heart Disease Prevention Program, which provides free testing to thousands of Broward residents, has historically spent most of its budget on administrative costs and little on testing, according to a county audit released Monday. It wasn’t.

The Broward Heart Project, led by Secretary Mark Bogen, began a two-year pilot program in May 2023. The goal is to provide free preventive heart testing to county residents. Commissioners approved $10 million. Audits show only about $2.5 million has been spent so far, but he only funded actual testing with $624,400. The rest went to marketing and consulting.

The audit also questioned the validity of the test itself, noting that testing asymptomatic people “is not widely accepted in the medical community.”

The audit notes that the incoming president of the Florida chapter of the American College of Cardiology said the tests were “inappropriate” for most patients.

The audit followed a controversial committee meeting in March in which Bogen floated a proposal to create a tax to help finance the program. He wants to hold a referendum in November asking voters to approve the new tax, which would generate about $125 million in benefits for the program.

Some committee members question what the program will do with so much money, even though it has less than a quarter of its original budget to spend.

Bogen recently lowered its proposed sales tax from a quarter of a cent to a tenth of a cent. This provides the program with approximately $50 million in annual benefits.

Management costs are high

The county contracted with Sidkla for $9 million to manage and administer the testing process. The county also hired Serimore for consulting services. The company is run by Claudio Smukloviski, a radiologist who works at Holy Cross Hospital, according to the audit.

The majority of tests (55%) were performed at Holy Cross Hospital, which had the highest number of appointments, the audit noted.

Smuklovisky received $345,000 in consulting services through a contract with the county, according to the audit.

Other issues raised by the report

The audit also found that the program did not verify whether applicants actually resided in the county, a requirement of the program.

“As part of the online application, applicants check a box indicating they are a Broward County resident when starting the application, but no supporting documentation is required to verify the applicant’s residency. We also noted that there was no verification of the .

read more: Broward commissioners to decide whether new tax will fund multi-million dollar health care project

Auditors said only two non-Broward residents were tested, despite the lack of documentation.

Another red flag was that the program administrator and consultants did not provide adequate financial documentation for some costs. So did the county’s public information office, which creates ads and buys print and television space.

“Our investigation found that some expenditures were not supported by appropriate documentation detailing the types of services being paid for,” the audit said.

Only 9% of those tested were black, even though they are a target group because they “traditionally have been underserved by medical services.”

The program also aims to test a minimum of 15,000 residents, according to county documents. The audit says the pilot program does not come close to meeting benchmarks based on reservation availability.

Less than 1,800 people have been tested under the program so far. The maximum number of cases the program can handle by the end of the pilot program is just under 6,000, according to the audit. So far, 59% of people tested have received results that require further treatment.

Commissioners question the need for tax

The program has been hailed as life-saving by students and Bogen himself. Still, many commissioners doubted he could convince them that the program needed new tax funding.

Bogen told WLRN that state law requires a portion of the tax money to go to local hospitals. He said this would replace funding the county currently sends about $15 million a year to two public hospital systems, Memorial Hospital and Broward Health Hospital, for indigent care.

Another hefty $6.5 million from tax dollars will go to trauma centers, and about $25 million will remain for heart projects, he added.

Bogen said his goal is a county-run center where those tests and cancer tests can be performed. Currently, the program is using machines from other hospitals, which is causing schedule delays.

Mayor Nan Rich argued that the program could be funded by hospitals, which have taxing authority in Broward County.

“They have a responsibility, and that is health care, which is their core mission,” she said at the March meeting. “We’re excited to be able to do a pilot program. There’s a lot of information out there that points to existing needs that aren’t really there.” I think we need to continue to support that. ”

The audit was released a day before the county is scheduled to meet at Tuesday’s County Council meeting to discuss Bogen’s proposal for a November referendum.

Bogen did not respond to a message sent by WLRN seeking comment on the audit.