Central Health will hire an independent firm to review its financial and organizational performance, although critics said Tuesday the review should be overseen by the Travis County Commissioners Court and called for new measures of accountability.

A group under the name Health for Travis County held a news conference Tuesday morning to urge commissioners to require Central Health to undergo a performance audit, echoing similar calls from some of the group's members over the past several months.

However, on Monday, Central Health President and CEO Patricia Young Brown sent a memo to the Commissioners Court that said plans for such as review were already underway.

According to the memo, Central Health will issue a request for proposals during the next couple of weeks to select an outside auditor who will look into the agency’s planning and budgeting, financial transparency and reporting as well as organization governance.

Members of Health for Travis County said Central Health's plan is unacceptable. Spokesperson Isabel Lopez-Aguilar said the audit should be overseen by Travis County rather than Central Health.

“We’re going to insist that this process should be initiated by the Commissioners Court,” Lopez-Aguilar said.

Young Brown said Tuesday that Central Health is the appropriate agency to oversee an audit and is abiding by its guiding statutes by doing so. She said the audit plans follow a Commissioners Court direction for Central Health to develop regular financial reviews.

"I feel good that we're marching down the path that we set with the court," Young Brown said.

The group also called Tuesday for more community engagement in the selection of Central Health's next CEO following Young Brown's announcement last week that she will retire at the end of the year, as well as for broader geographic-based representation on the Central Health board and more oversight of the district by Travis County.

In response, Young Brown said she expects Central Health's board to take public input in the hiring of her successor, much like it did when she was hired in 2005.

She also disagreed that Central Health should change how it appoints its board of managers, saying that geographic-based representation, like that of Austin City Council, would not be appropriate for the agency.

Along with the audit, Young Brown said in her memo that Central Health is talking to Dell Medical School at the University of Texas to develop a review of the funds paid annually to the school by Central Health.

Since 2014, Central Health has contributed $35 million annually to the school, with the latest payment made in August, according to a Community Benefit Report released by Central Health and UT Dell Medical School in September. The report showed about one-third of the contributions have gone toward faculty and staff compensation.

Austin lawyer Fred Lewis, a member of Health for Travis County, said he has scrutinized the money Central Health has given the school. He previously called for the Commissioners Court to hold off on approving Central Health's $240 million budget for fiscal year 2016-17 until the agency agreed to comply with an independent third-party audit.

Lewis said Tuesday that Central Health has not shown its financial support of UT Dell Medical School is serving its mission to provide health care for low-income and uninsured Travis County residents.

The group was also joined by Central Health board manager Cynthia Valadez Sr., who said she thinks Central Health has made efforts to be transparent with the public but more could be done.