Columbia/HCA's violations while Rick Scott was CEO

The list of violations

In two huge settlements, Columbia/HCA hospitals paid the federal government $1.7 billion to settle allegations of a broad range of frauds against Medicare committed by the company while Rick Scott was chief executive.

The civil fines included settling these allegations:

• Upcoding, or claiming patients were sicker than they were to get more money from Medicare: $403 million

• Inflated hospital cost reporting to get more money out of Medicare:
$356 million

• Physician kickbacks: $225.5 million

• Improper billing of patients for home health visits:
$106 million

• False cost reports involving the purchase of home health agencies: $90 million

• False cost reports concerning marketing expenses: $50 million

• False cost reports on Curative Wound Care Centers: $17 million

• False cost reports on Lawnwood Regional Medical Center in Fort Pierce:
$5 million

• False billing for transferred patients: $5 million

• False cost reports involving Cedars Medical Center in Miami: $950,000

Criminal fines against two HCA subsidiaries:
$95.3 million

Source: Department of Justice

The illegal kickbacks

In a lawsuit filed in 1999, the Justice Department accused Columbia/HCA of making illegal payments to almost 250 doctors in Florida and Texas in exchange for patient referrals from the doctors — a violation of antikickback laws, government lawyers said. The company later pleaded guilty to one criminal charge of illegal kickbacks and paid a $30 million fine. Neither Rick Scott nor any other company executive was criminally charged.

Florida hospitals

Columbia/HCA Hospital	Illegal Payments	Doctors Paid	Medicare Referrals
Aventura Hospital & Medial Center	$1.3 million	18	$8 million
Miami Heart Institute	$3.3 million	16	$34.1 million
Plantation General Hospital	$326,000	8	$800,000
Palms West Hospital (Palm Beach County)	$2 million	23	$5 million
Southwest Florida Regional Hospital (Lee County)	$907,000	17	$2.8 million
Florida total	$7.9 million	82	$50.8 million

Texas hospitals

El Paso area hospitals	$6.9 million	77	$103.3 million
Corpus Christi area hospitals	$2.3 million	75	$19.9 million

Source: Federal court records

[Last modified: Jun 27, 2010 01:37 AM] [SOURCE]

We don't need a crook running Florida

This guy has lived in Florida all of seven years and he's aggressively promoting oil-drilling off our coasts and calling for Arizona-style immigration laws. We don't need this. St. Pete Times article here ("Rick Scott touts CEO experience in run for Florida governor, to a degree").

"As I have said repeatedly, Columbia/HCA made mistakes, and I take responsibility for what happened on my watch as CEO," Scott said in a written statement Friday. He has denied knowing frauds were taking place while he was there, and he was never charged with any crimes.

However, federal investigators found that Scott took part in business practices at Columbia/HCA that were later found to be illegal — specifically, that Scott and other executives offered financial incentives to doctors in exchange for patient referrals, in violation of federal law, according to lawsuits the Justice Department filed against the company in 2001.

The doctor payments were among 10 different kinds of fraud identified by the Justice Department in its 10-year probe of the company, records show. Three years after Scott left Columbia/HCA, the company admitted wrongdoing, pleading guilty to 14 felonies — most committed during Scott's tenure — in addition to paying two sets of fines totaling $1.7 billion. . . .

On his campaign website, Scott said that he would have corrected any problems at the company "immediately'' had he known about them. But a former company insider told the Miami Herald that he warned Scott in a meeting of "significant problems'' at least six months before Scott's resignation, which came nine days after the FBI raided 33 Columbia hospitals and offices in six states.

The insider, attorney Jerre Frazier, who was brought in by a Columbia/HCA board member to root out the company's problems, said he did not believe Scott personally approved any illegal conduct. But, he said: "Rick is a bright guy, and he picked up on what was happening."

The Scott campaign dismissed Frazier as a "disgruntled former employee."

Whether or not Scott was aware of his company's questionable conduct, the breadth of the problems raises questions about Scott's leadership, management experts say.

Nell Minow of the Corporate Library, a watchdog group, put it this way: "Being ignorant of all that doesn't inspire confidence." In judging a CEO, she said, "it's no better to be a schnook than a crook." . . .

(Emphasis added.) Read the complete article for more information. List of violations here. (Post on Arizona here.)

New bike stuff

Was at the bike shop and Sports Authority today.

New super-light Giro helmet and gloves. (Wore helmet on ride tonight.)

New horn and helmet. Wanted a bell but couldn't get one at bike shop or Sports Authority.

I ended up getting these gloves when I wasn't able to return a Kryptonite lock I'd bought at the bike shop (found something cheaper and just as good at Sports Authority). I can use these at the gym, since my old ones are wearing out.

Gel pads on palm. They had extra-large for a perfect fit.

'Tea party in the Sonora'

'For the future of G.O.P. governance, look to Arizona.' Full story by Ken Silverstein in the July Harper's Magazine is here. Excerpt:

The general unsightliness of the capitol makes it a fitting home for today’s Arizona legislature, which is composed almost entirely of dimwits, racists, and cranks. Collectively they have bankrupted the state through a combination of ideological fanaticism on the Republican right and acquiescence and timidity on the part of G.O.P. moderates and Democrats. Although dozens of states are facing budget crises, the situation in Arizona is arguably the nation’s worst, graver even than in California. A horrific budget deficit has been papered over with massive borrowing and accounting gimmickry, and the state may yet have to issue IOUs to employees and vendors. All-day kindergarten has been eliminated statewide, and some districts have adopted a four-day school week. Arizona’s state parks, despite bringing in 2 million visitors and $266 million annually, have lost 80 percent of their budget, with up to two thirds of the parks now in danger of closure. The legislature slashed the budget for the Department of Revenue, which required the agency to fire hundreds of state auditors and tax collectors; lawmakers boasted that these measures saved $25 million, but a top official in the department estimated that the state would miss out on $174 million in tax collections as a result. . . .

[T]o raise cash, the legislature has pursued a series of wild sell-offs and budget cuts. It privatized the capitol building and leased it back from its new owner, an arrangement that brought in substantial revenue but over time will cost Arizona far more. The legislature has sold off numerous other state properties at bargain prices, and has put up future lottery revenues as collateral on a $450 million loan. Meanwhile, Arizona removed more than 300,000 adults from state health coverage and terminated one health-care program for 47,000 poor children. Funding was slashed at the agency that deals with reports of child abuse and neglect, and also at Children’s Rehabilitative Services, so that parents of children with cystic fibrosis, cerebral palsy, and a number of other conditions are now required to pay 100 percent of treatment costs. . . .

Read the whole story. (Pictured: Old Capitol at left; House of Representatives building at right.)

Father's Day - Bike ride

Called father (he'd received my card and was doing well), then headed down the road at around 7:00 p.m. Was back by 8:00, before sunset. Weather was pleasant - not too hot. (Click on photos to enlarge them.)

Entrance to nature preserve

Inside nature preserve (that's my bike)

They cut channels across an old through road in the process of reclaiming the area for the preserve

Sleek boat on Intracoastal Waterway

Bridge across Haulover Inlet (Atlantic Ocean beyond); Village of Bal Harbour at right

Florida International University (North Miami campus) in distance

Towers of Sunny Isles Beach beyond Oleta River State Park

Go slow for Manatees

Dude chillin'

Back into the nature preserve

Back out of the nature preserve

My German friend Karl lived here years ago. House full of Biedermeier furniture, but lots of stairs, and he limped as it was. He ended up moving to a condo on the Ocean in Ft. Lauderdale.

I lived here with an ex. We found the place together.

The Young Albert

Enjoyed watching "The Young Victoria" on Comcast last night (early this morning, actually). I'd not seen it in the theater. Except for the part where Albert gets shot, from what I've read the movie is an accurate account. Even the shooting incident wasn't pulled from thin air:

During Victoria's first pregnancy, eighteen-year-old Edward Oxford attempted to assassinate the Queen while she was riding in a carriage with Prince Albert in London. Oxford fired twice, but both bullets missed. He was tried for high treason, but was acquitted on the grounds of insanity.

(From Wikipedia here; footnotes removed) (I spent quite a while digging through Wikipedia after watching the movie.)

Based on photographs I saw, it appears Albert was even better looking than the actor who portrayed him in the movie (Rupert Friend). Victoria writes this about him: "'[Albert] is extremely handsome; his hair is about the same colour as mine; his eyes are large and blue, and he has a beautiful nose and a very sweet mouth with fine teeth; but the charm of his countenance is his expression, which is most delightful.' She also wrote to her maternal uncle Leopold I of Belgium to thank him 'for the prospect of great happiness you have contributed to give me, in the person of dear Albert ... He possesses every quality that could be desired to render me perfectly happy.' . . . '...dear Albert... He is so sensible, so kind, and so good, and so amiable too. He has besides, the most pleasing and delightful exterior and appearance you can possibly see.'" On the other hand, Prince Alexander of the Netherlands, another suitable marriage prospect, Victoria found "very plain." Victoria and Albert had nine children together before Albert died in 1861 at the age of 42. (Albert was four months younger than Victoria.) The photo at left is the first ever taken of Albert, in 1842, two years after his marriage to Victoria. Below are the royal couple with their children (all nine -- count 'em). [Click on the photos to enlarge them.]

What impressed me the most about Albert, however, was his progressive ideas, which Victoria also embraced.

[H]e adopted many public causes, such as educational reform and the abolition of slavery . . . [still legal in the U.S. at the time and enshrined in the U.S. Constitution]

Albert used his position as Chancellor [at Cambridge] to campaign successfully for reformed and more modern university curricula, expanding the subjects taught beyond the traditional mathematics and classics to include modern history and the natural sciences. . . .

In a speech to the Society for the Improvement of the Condition of the Labouring Classes, of which he was President, he expressed his "sympathy and interest for that class of our community who have most of the toil and fewest of the enjoyments of this world". It was the "duty of those who, under the blessings of Divine Providence, enjoy station, wealth, and education" to assist those less fortunate than themselves.

A man of progressive and relatively liberal ideas, Albert not only led reforms in university education, welfare, the royal finances and slavery, he had a special interest in applying science and art to the manufacturing industry. The Great Exhibition of 1851 arose from the annual exhibitions of the Society of Arts, of which Albert was President from 1843, and owed the greater part of its success to his efforts to promote it. Albert served as president of the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851, and had to fight for every stage of the project. In the House of Lords, Lord Brougham fulminated against the proposal to hold the exhibition in Hyde Park. Opponents of the exhibition prophesied that foreign rogues and revolutionists would overrun England, subvert the morals of the people, and destroy their faith. Albert thought such talk absurd and quietly persevered, trusting always that British manufacturing would benefit from exposure to the best products of foreign countries.

The Queen opened the exhibition in a specially designed and built glass building known as the Crystal Palace on 1 May 1851. It proved a colossal success. A surplus of £180,000 was raised, which went to purchase land in South Kensington and establish educational and cultural institutions there – including what would later be named the Victoria and Albert Museum. The area was referred to as "Albertopolis" by sceptics. . . .

Albert involved himself in promoting many public educational institutions. Chiefly at meetings in connection with these he spoke of the need for better schooling. A collection of his speeches was published in 1857. Recognised as a supporter of education and technological progress, he was invited to speak at scientific meetings, such as the memorable address he delivered as president of the British Association for the Advancement of Science when it met at Aberdeen in 1859. His espousal of science spawned opposition from the Church. His proposal of a knighthood for Charles Darwin, after the publication of On the Origin of Species, was rejected.

The movie, by the way, won an Oscar this year for Best Achievement in Costume Design.

French & Saunders - Parodies

Why Beck's Bad Novel Is a Must Read

From The Daily Beast here.

It turns out that the beach-read potboiler just might be the perfect medium for Glenn Beck’s patented mix of paranoia, patriotism, conspiracy theories, and self-help philosophy. Liberated from the obligations of literal truth, Beck is free to mix fact and faction into a genre he calls “faction”—appropriate because it is designed to divide the country into “us” against “them,” pitting heroic Beck-ian true believers in a life-or-death struggle against evil elitists and the sheeple who follow them.

The newly released The Overton Window is not just a bad book; it is an instructively bad book because it offers a complete color-by-numbers picture of the contemporary Wingnut psyche. It also answers the question of whether Beck fully appreciates the forces he’s playing with and the audiences he is catering to—the book is essentially a love letter to any group that might have seen themselves as implicated in the Department of Homeland Security’s report about the rise of extremism from the far-right in the age of Obama. . . .

Crist no longer supports Florida gay adoption ban

From Steve Rothaus here.

From this article by St. Petersburg Times reporter Adam C. Smith about the Florida Press Association and Florida Society of Newspaper Editors convention in Sarasota:

• Gov. Charlie Crist, running as an independent for U.S. Senate, said he no longer supports Florida's ban against gay couples adopting children: ``A better way and approach would be to let judges make that decision on a case-by-case basis.''

Quote of the Day

"Why do basically people with money have good health care and why do people that live on lower salaries not have good health care? You know, health should be a right for everyone."—Barbara Bush, former first daughter and current president of Global Health Corps, an organization which "aims to mobilize a global community of young leaders to build a movement for health equity."

(Source) (Via TowleRoad)

HGTV moves David Bromstad's 'Color Splash' to Miami

Miami Herald story here.

"I never stopped wanting to come back to Miami. I was commuting between here and San Francisco the whole time I was taping there," says Bromstad, 36, who was living in a Miami Beach studio when he entered the Design Star competition. "San Francisco is a beautiful city but it wasn't a design city. I was looking for a place that has a certain energy, that felt fresh and new." . . .

A friend encouraged Bromstad to harness all that imagination for a reality competition HGTV was launching called Design Star. Matched against 10 creative types, Bromstad wooed the judges with his energy and bold, modern style. His easy personality, movie star looks and penchant for working without a shirt probably didn't hurt either. . . .

People here know good design. They are surrounded by fabulous places, so I felt like we needed to take the designs to the next level," said Bromstad, who lives in a Bal Harbour loft with his partner. "Miami is rich in hotels, history and landmarks." . . .

Photo: C.W. GRIFFIN / MIAMI HERALD STAFF

Message to Rick Scott

As a fifth generation Floridian who deeply cares about my state, I can think of nothing more misguided than drilling for oil off our thousands of miles of pristine shoreline. Florida's coasts are what make the state unique, and to put them at risk of destruction by offshore drilling would be a crime. Your efforts on behalf of Big Oil to risk spoiling all that's good about Florida are loathsome. Please leave our state alone. Better yet, leave our state -- period.

Two Weddings, a Divorce and ‘Glee’

From Frank Rich's column, here.

THOSE of us left off the guest list could only fantasize about Rush Limbaugh’s nuptials last weekend. Now cruising into marriage No. 4 — an impressive total for a guy not quite 60 — Rush staged a lavish luau at the Breakers in Palm Beach. The revelers included what some might regard as the Rat Pack from hell — Sean Hannity, Rudy Giuliani, James Carville and Clarence Thomas. The scriptural readings remain a mystery. But we did learn the identity of the pop deity anointed as the wedding singer. That would be Elton John, whose last, albeit second-class, wedding was a civil union with David Furnish in 2005. . . .

Domestic partnerships and equal economic benefits aren’t antidotes, Boies explains, because as long as gay Americans are denied the same right to marry as everyone else, they are branded as sub-citizens, less equal and less deserving than everyone else. That government-sanctioned stigma inevitably leaves them vulnerable to other slights and discrimination, both subtle and explicit. The damage is particularly acute for children, who must not only wonder why their parents are regarded as defective by the law but must also bear this scarlet letter of inferiority when among their peers. . . .

Dramatically enough, “Glee” generated an unexpected real-life story last weekend to match its fictional plots. The Times’s Sunday wedding pages chronicled the Massachusetts same-sex marriage of Jane Lynch, the actress who steals the show as Sue Sylvester, the cheerleading coach who is the students’ comic nemesis. It’s a sunny article until you read that Lynch’s spouse, a clinical psychologist named Lara Embry, had to fight a legal battle to gain visitation rights with her 10-year-old adoptive daughter from a previous relationship. That battle, which Dr. Embry ultimately won, was required by Florida’s draconian laws against gay adoption — laws that were enacted during Anita Bryant’s homophobic crusades of the 1970s and more recently defended in court, for an expert witness fee of $120,000, by the Rev. Rekers of Rentboy.com renown. . . .

Outed Pol Roy Ashburn: "I'm Sensing Relief Now"

From The Advocate here.

"I just want people to know who I am and what's in my heart. I kept that from people," Ashburn said. "I concealed it from everyone for almost all my life, so I'm [now] privileged to work with people from all aspects of life, including organizations devoted to advancing the rights of gay and lesbian and transgendered individuals."

Prince Poppycock

Via TowleRoad. Facebook page here. Check out his website here.

John Quale

Ricky Martin Cast In Broadway Revival Of 'Evita'

He's playing Che Guevara. Story here. See here also (per People, Ricky has BF).

Rick Scott for Governor?

Rick Scott, the Republican who is tapping his personal fortune to be Florida's next chief executive, wants to "make government justify every dollar it spends, every year. That's what I've done in business, that's what I'll do as governor."

Here's what Mr. Scott did in business. As co-founder and CEO of the hospital company Columbia/HCA, he ran a business that paid a $1.7 billion fine - the largest ever - to atone for fraud that included bilking Medicare out of billions of dollars. This self-professed hands-on manager, who says he'll watch over every state dollar, escaped prosecution by claiming that he didn't know what his company was doing.

Shortly after the FBI raided Columbia/HCA's offices, Mr. Scott was ousted. He got to keep $10 million in severance and stock worth a reported $300 million, fattened by all those Medicare overcharges.

Mr. Scott promises to hold government accountable and cut costs. But the business he ran ripped off government, which means that it ripped off taxpayers. He didn't hold his own business accountable. Government had to hold his business accountable.

Mr. Scott wants to run government like a business. Floridians would have to hope that he doesn't run Florida like he ran his own business.

(Source.) From Wikipedia here:

Numerous New York Times stories, beginning in 1996, began scrutinizing Columbia/HCA's business and Medicare billing practices. These culminated in the company being raided by Federal agents searching for documents and eventually the ousting of Scott by his fellow board directors.^[11] Among the crimes uncovered were doctors being offered financial incentives to bring in patients, falsifying diagnostic codes to increase reimbursements from Medicare and other government programs, and billing the government for unnecessary lab tests^[12], though Scott personally was never charged with any wrongdoing. HCA wound up pleading guilty to more than a dozen criminal and civil charges and paying fines totaling $1.7 billion. In 1999, Columbia/HCA changed its name back to HCA, Inc.

In 2001, HCA reached a plea agreement with the U.S. government that avoided criminal charges against the company and included $95 million in fines.^[4] In late 2002, HCA agreed to pay the U.S. government $631 million, plus interest, and pay $17.5 million to state Medicaid agencies, in addition to $250 million paid up to that point to resolve outstanding Medicare expense claims.^[13] In all, civil law suits cost HCA more than $1.7 billion to settle, including more than $500 million paid in 2003 to two whistleblowers.^[4]

See here too.

Bike ride tonight

Hadn't been out on the bike in -- I'm guessing -- a year and a half, maybe two. At least not since they created bike lanes down both sides of 135th Street east of Biscayne. They've also landscaped the area at the end of the road that used to lead to the now reclaimed land fill by FIU. (I'll have to get a photo in the daytime.) Very handsome. I left here a little before 9:00 and got back a little after 10:00, with two rests, the last at the nearest Publix to search out something frozen that's fat free and sugar free. Found some Luke's fat- and sugar-free ice cream (made in Riviera Beach, FL) -- 35 calories / 1/2 cup serving. Also got some Edy's no-sugar-added fruit bars (25 calories / bar). The fruit bars contain sorbitol, however, which doesn't agree with me (should have read the label first). Still, they're good.

The ice cream isn't bad at all. Was refreshing and tasted like chocolate ($4-something / tub). Contains cocoa and no artificial flavors. It's mostly water and skim milk. Sweetened with Splenda (also in the fruit bars).

I was feeling fatigued when I first set out but then became more energized. Feel great now. This will be a new routine. I hate doing cardio at the gym, and the biking is good around here, especially after the sun goes down and it cools off. Next I'll start using the pool. Wellness Committee, take note...

HGTV show coming to Miami

Designer David Bromstad finds inspiration around every corner in his very hot hometown of Miami. Taking cues from the amazing architecture and cultural pulse of the city, he transforms ordinary rooms and outdoor spaces into something spectacular.

More here.

More on David here.

Alejandro

Support Alex Sink for Fla. Governor

Here.

Study: Lesbian Mothers Raise Better Children Than Straights

From TowleRoad here.

Results from the U.S. National Longitudinal Lesbian Family Study (NLLFS), which was begun in 1986 of 154 women in 84 families who underwent artificial insemination to have children, and studied the development of those children, reveal that lesbian mothers are very good at child-rearing, TIME reports:

"The authors found that children raised by lesbian mothers — whether the mother was partnered or single — scored very similarly to children raised by heterosexual parents on measures of development and social behavior. These findings were expected, the authors said; however, they were surprised to discover that children in lesbian homes scored higher than kids in straight families on some psychological measures of self-esteem and confidence, did better academically and were less likely to have behavioral problems, such as rule-breaking and aggression. 'We simply expected to find no difference in psychological adjustment between adolescents reared in lesbian families and the normative sample of age-matched controls,' says [researcher Nanette] Gartrell. 'I was surprised to find that on some measures we found higher levels of [psychological] competency and lower levels of behavioral problems. It wasn't something I anticipated.' In addition, children in same-sex-parent families whose mothers ended up separating, did as well as children in lesbian families in which the moms stayed together."

Sing a petition for net neutrality

LEARN MORE AND SIGN HERE.

Ten Dirtiest Hotels in America List Includes Two on Miami Beach

From Miami New Times here. More here.

Leaning Tower of Abu Dhabi

CNN story here.

Congrats to Rush Limbaugh on his fourth traditional marriage

Glen Greenwald here.

So as Newt Gingrich does while standing next to his third wife (who, as was true for Gingrich's second wife, was previously known as his "adulterous mistress"), Rush Limbaugh will now crusade for Traditional Marriage with his fourth wife (and counting) at his side. As is so often the case, the Traditional Marriage movement is led by people who discard their wives and get new, younger replacements the way most people change underwear. That's how so many Americans sit on their sofas next to their second and third spouses, with their step-children and half-siblings surrounding them, and explain -- without any recognition of the irony -- that they're against same-sex marriage because they believe the law should only recognize Traditional Marriages. . . .

Rainbow flag mounted atop Mount Trashmore as Key West readies for gay Pridefest celebration

In this photo released by the Florida Keys News Bureau, landscape artists put finishing touches on a giant rainbow flag on the top of a dormant landfill, nicknamed Mount Trashmore in Key West, Fla. The flag measures about 125 feet by 60 feet and was spearheaded by local landscaper John Mumford and artist Rick Worth. It was created to highlight Key West's annual Pridefest celebration, set for June 9-13. ANDY NEWMAN/AP

(Source)

Afternoon weather

Shots across Biscayne Bay (the Intracoastal), with Miami Beach, Surfside, Bal Harbour in the far distance.

Update: After all that, it never rained here.

Emails Show Florida AG Bill McCollum Pushed to Hire George Rekers Against Advice of His Own Staff

From TowleRoad here.

Newly-released records show that Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum pushed to hire Christian "ex-gay" activist (and employer of rent boys) George Alan Rekers to defend the state's ban on gay adoption even after his own attorneys recommended against it. . . .

The state of Florida ended up paying more than $120,000 to an "ex-gay" hypocrite who hires rent boys to defend the state's ban on gay adoption.