(a) The books and records of publicly owned hospitals, nursing homes, rest homes or any other publicly owned medical institution may, upon request of the governing board of the particular institution, be audited annually by any certified public accountant who is subject to the control of the Alabama State board of Public Accountancy. The selection of the certified public accountant to perform the audit shall be the responsibility of the governing board of the particular institution. Such audit, upon approval as provided in this section, shall be in lieu of any audits otherwise required by law of said institutions. The audit to be performed by the certified public accountant shall be in accordance with generally accepted auditing standards and shall comply with the procedures promulgated by the Chief Examiner of Public Accounts, and the audit report shall be addressed to the Chief Examiner of Public Accounts, who shall be charged with the responsibility of processing and distributing it as provided by law, and upon approval and acceptance, such audit report shall have the legal effect as a report of an examiner of public accounts.

(b) Examinations and audits performed upon provisions of this section shall be made at the expense of the institution and not as an expense of the State of Alabama. Such audit reports shall be public records open to public inspection, and a copy of each report shall be kept on file at the institution concerning which the audit was made.

(c) The provisions of this section shall be cumulative and supplemental and shall be construed in pari materia with other laws relative to the audit of the books and records of publicly owned hospitals, nursing homes, rest homes and any other publicly owned medical institutions.