General Health System

“During preparation of the 990, senior administrative and finance leaders are consulted to provide any additional information on certain, various transactions on an as-needed basis. Upon completion of the 990 but prior to filing, said leaders are provided with a draft copy of all forms/schedules for their review and comments. Upon clearing any review comments, revised draft copies are emailed to all members of the board via secure board network. The executive committee has been tasked by the board to fully review the form 990 at their next meeting and forward their recommendations to the full board.”

“As part of its annual work plan, the internal audit & corporate compliance department administers a mandatory electronic conflict of interest (coi) survey through which all leadership employees (ranging from managers to executive management), ghs board members and trustees of the organization are prompted to timely disclose any interests that could give rise to conflicts. After the survey period is over, members of the internal audit & corporate compliance department sort through and organize all survey responses received and conduct an initial review of all disclosures flagged as potential conflicts and obtains additional information/documentation as necessary from key stakeholders to clarify or rectify (through appropriate mitigation) any conflicts noted so as to ensure business decisions are driven by the best interests of the organization. Upon completion, the corporate compliance officer formally communicates conflict results to the chief financial officer, chief executive officer and the chairman of the audit/finance committee of the board.”

“The compensation committee of the board of trustees oversees all executive compensation matters. The committee engages an independent third party consulting firm to conduct an annual independent market-based compensation review of executives in comparable healthcare systems and uses this data in determining reasonable and appropriate executive compensation levels. All compensation committee members are independent with no conflict of interest with regard to executive compensation matters. The compensation committee considers many factors in determining executive pay levels. Some of these factors are, but are not limited to, the knowledge, experience and competencies of the executive, performance of the executive, areas of responsibility, importance of executive retention and peer calibration and talent management rating. The committee documents its decisions and the process it follows in detailed and contemporaneous minutes. It diligently follows the prescribed process for establishing the presumption of reasonableness.”

“The taxpayer makes all governing documents, conflicts of interest policies and tax returns available to the general public on an as-requested basis.”

“The general health system (ghs) board of trustees also serves as the board of trustees for its wholly-owned, 501c3 hospital affiliate, baton rouge general medical, ein 72-1025017.”

“Other fees: program service expenses 3,662,157. Management and general expenses 915,539. Fundraising expenses 0. Total expenses 4,577,696.”

“No change in the organization's audit oversight process or auditor selection process. The audit committee of the board of trustees is tasked with the oversight of the annual audit and selection of the independent auditors/accountants.”

“General health system (ghs) provides centralized management, banking & credit monitoring, accounts receivable/billing and accounts payable, payroll, accounting/tax, internal audit and corporate compliance, human resource, risk management, insurance, benefits management, legal services and information technology services to all members of the system. Ghs employs and compensates all employees throughout the system. All monies collected from or spent for all ghs-related entities are deposited into/spent from centralized ghs bank accounts and accounted for as received or disbursed. The annual net amounts of these transactions are reflected as ghs receivables/liabilities on an ongoing basis. Due to the massive number of transactions described above, a proper, segregated accounting in a manner proscribed by schedule r is not possible at this time.”