|
|
|
| Fraud and our health |
255
|
Triad scoops Government hospital contracts six years after its parent company settles criminal fraud charges with US Justice Department
Just six years after its company of origin settled criminal fraud charges with the US Government, US hospital chain Triad Inc, in partnership with the Beacon Medical Group, has reportedly won the race for co-located hospital contracts in Ireland.
Triad now seems certain to expand its hospital base in Ireland from one to four. Health analyst and author Marie O'Connor described Triad's penetration of the Irish market as 'a remarkable achievement given that it is only 10 years since FBI hospital raids compelled its company of origin, HCA, to back off in other countries'. 'Is the process of due diligence in Ireland so elastic as to overlook a background in fraud in other jurisdictions?' she asked.
Triad, an offshoot of an American hospital chain that settled criminal charges in 2001 in the US, is in partnership with a consortium that has reportedly been awarded co-located hospital contracts in Dublin, Cork and Galway. The Triad/Beacon group is the only tenderer to be reportedly awarded multiple contracts undet the controversial Government co-location scheme.
Janette Byrne says Patients Together are alarmed that an offshoot of a company that paid $1.7 billion in fraud fines in the US looks set to run three of the six co-located private hospitals. 'This has serious implications for patient welfare. False Claims Act investigations in the US have uncovered patient abuse, such as medically unnecessary heart operations, as well as substandard patient care. Quality of care is a huge issue for patients.'
Dr John Barton says that concerns about doutful business practices dented HCA's plans for expansion in other countries. 'Columbia/HCA was foiled in its attempt to buy a French chain in 1997, while on the other side of the world, in the same year, the medical profession also thwarted HCA plans to expand into the Australian market. It really is a case of caveat emptor: let the buyer beware. In this case the buyer is the HSE. I would remind them that they are buying on behalf of the Irish people.'
Triad is a former Healthcare Company of American (HCA) company. Marie O'Connor, author of 'Emergency: Irish hospitals in chaos', says:
'Triad has recently denied it is a spin-off of HCA, but Triad's 2005 report––available on the Securities and Exchange website––gives its origins as HCA's Pacific Group. The Beacon Medical Group In Ireland has also confirmed Triad's spinoff status'.
One of the first healthcare corporations in the US, HCA merged in 1994 with Columbia Healthcare––founded by, among others, Kentucky Fried Chicken founder, Jack Massey––to become Columbia/HCA. Columbia promoted a McMedicine model of care modelled on McDonalds and Wal-Mart. Columbia/HCA went on to pay the biggest fraud bill in the history of American healthcare.
In 1998, the US Justice Dept charged Columbia/HCA and Quorum of defrauding Medicare, Medicaid and other government insurers. False insurance claims and physician bribery were the main charges levelled against the hospital giant (Quorum was also a HCA company). These hospitals, the US Government alleged, rountinely operated two sets of accounts, one for company purposes and the other––the fraudulent set––for government insurers. Over 400 hospitals were said to be involved in the nation-wide swindle. 'Triad owns around one third of the facilities named in HCA's final settlement with the US Justice Dept in 2003', Marie O'Connor points out.
According to the US Government, the protocol governing this fraudulent accounting was written by Quorum. Triad bought Quorum in 2001: the company is in active litigation in a number of whistleblower actions currently being taken against it under the False Claims Act.
Triad continues to have close connections with its parent company, Marie O'Connor maintains. 'In addition to owning hospitals that were owned by HCA, many of Triad's top executives, including its President and CEO Danny Shelton–– who led the spin-off from HCA in 1999–– are former senior Columbia/HCA managers.' None, according to Triad, have been found guilty of wrongdoing.
Triad is under contract to HCA for a variety of services, including cost reporting. Patient accounting, John Gormley told the Dail on 27 September 2006 was the 'nub' of the fraud case taken against HCA in 1998.
Triad has now been bought by another US hospital chain, Community Health Systems. Last week Triad admitted that Community Health had paid a fraud fine of $30 million in 2000. The bill was settled following an investigation by the FBI.
One of the biggest public-private partnerships in the history of the State, co-location will see almost €500 million of taxpayers' money gifted to investors to build private hospitals on public hospital grounds. Those hospitals will be owned in perpetuity by their shareholder investors. The new co-located private hospitals will range from 100 beds upwards, a size the Government deems too small for viability in the public sector. Cherrypicking (profitable admissions), cream skimming (wealthier patients), price gouging (overcharging) and cost engineering (corner cutting) will ensure profitability in the for profit sector at the expense of taxpayers and those paying health insurance premia.
ENDS
For further details, please contact Marie O'Connor at 086 8180254; Janette Byrne at 085 7302798; or Dr John Barton at 087 2502345.
Notes for editors
Last week US healthcare corporations in Ireland admitted to having made massive payments under the False Claims Act in the US: Triad admitted that it was being taken over by a hospital chain that had paid $30 million in 2000 to the US Justice Dept for false billing.
Triad's history has been documented in considerable detail in
'Emergency: Irish hospitals in chaos' (pages 189-198)(Marie O'Connor , Gill and Macmillan). The company has never issued a denial or rebuttal since the date of its publication on 30 March 2007.
Triad an offshoot of an American hospital chain that settled criminal charges in 2001: see Triad's 2005 report to the UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549 FORM 10-K
(X) ANNUAL REPORT For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2005, page 1.
Online.
http://library.corporate-ir.net/library/11/115/115178/items/186915/tri_2005_10K.pdf
Beacon Medical Group CEO Michael Cullen has confirmed Triad's spin-off status. In an interview in the Irish Examiner on 10 November 2006, Triad was described as 'an offshoot of the healthcare giant Columbia/HCA'.
For details of the criminal charges, see US Dept of Justice. The Department of Health and Human Services And The Department of Justice Health Care Fraud and Abuse Control Program Annual Report For FY 2001 April 2002 Online http://www.usdoj.gov/dag/pubdoc/hipaa01fe19.htm
Around one third of the hospitals named in HCA's 2003 settlement with the US Justice Dept are owned by Triad: for a list of Triad hospitals, see Triad: http://www.triadhospitals.com/Facilities/AllFacilities/
For a list of the 400-plus hospitals charged with fraud, see US Justice Dept http://contracts.onecle.com/hca/us.settle.2003.06.26.shtml
the protocol governing this fraudulent accounting was written by
Quorum: see US Justice Dept.
http://www.usdoj.gov/civil/cases/alderson/complain.pdf
Many of its top executives, including its President and CEO Danny Shelton who led the spin-off from HCA in 1999, are former senior Columbia/HCA managers: see Triad corporate staff profiles. Online:
http://www.triadhospitals.com/AboutTriad/Corporate_Staff/default
Triad is under contract to HCA for a variety of services, including cost reporting: see Triad's 2005 SEC report.
Triad is the third biggest hospital chain in US: the Beacon Hospital in Dublin is Triad's first hospital in Europe. Responding to a Dail question put by John Gormley TD in 2006 about Triad's background in fraud in the US, the Minister for Health confirmed that Triad had 'expressed an interest in operating private hospitals on the sites of public hospitals'.
Groups such as the Health Services Action Group, Cooperating for Cancer Care North West, Patients Together, and the St Luke's Action Committee have called on the Government to halt co-location and to end the outsourcing of cancer treatment and testing to companies that have paid fraud bills in other countries.
|
| Marie |
02/10/2007
|
|
