Princess Health and A Former Rhode Island Legislator Pleads Guilty to Selling His Office to Local Health Care Organizations. Princessiccia

Princess Health and A Former Rhode Island Legislator Pleads Guilty to Selling His Office to Local Health Care Organizations. Princessiccia

bribery crime CVS Rhode Island Blue Cross Roger Williams Medical Center

Gusty 14:14 Add Comment

Back to a big, and increasingly messy local story... former RI state senator John A. Celona has agreed to plead guilty to federal charges, according to the Providence Journal. Federal prosecutors stated that Celona and "other persons" created a "scheme ... to defraud the State of Rhode Island and its citizens of their intangible right to his honest services and to have those services performed free from deceit, favoritism, bias, conflict of interest and self-enrichment." Celona was previously indicted on similar charges in a state court action. The charges to which Celona has now admitted include:

1. Accepting over $260,000 from Roger Williams Medical Center, (at the recommendation of its Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Robert A. Urciuoli, according to the newspaper,) channeled through its subsidiary assisted living center, to: influence cities to increase their ambulance transports to the hospital; oppose legislation that would have required the hospital to make payments in lieu of taxes; back legislation to extend a moratorium on construction of new nursing facilities; influence other law-makers to oppose formation of a Cancer Council that would have been lead by former Roger Williams Medical Center medical staff members who had feuded with Urciuoli; pressure a company to pay its debt to the hospital; and pressure another to make a favorable contract with the hospital.
2. Accepting $45,000, and free travel to a golf tournament from CVS to: oppose pharmacy choice legislation; favor legislation that would permit electronic prescription of brand-name drugs; and opposing legislation to allow drug re-importation from Canada.
3. Accepting over $13,000 from Rhode Island Blue Cross to: support a bill allowing insurance companies to design affordable benefit plans; support a bill changing health insurance plan parameters for small business; and oppose a bill requiring health insurers to cover prosthetic devices and modifying limits on their investments.

According to the news article, investigations of the roles of Roger Williams Medical Center, CVS, and Rhode Island Blue Cross in this are on-going.
This single case illustrates that mismanagement is not limited to particular types of health care organizations, and that problems at one organization may easily get tangled up with problems in others.
It also illustrates the wide-ranging effects of mismanagement and corruption.

Princess Health and A Former Rhode Island Legislator Pleads Guilty to Selling His Office to Local Health Care Organizations.Princessiccia

Princess Health and A Former Rhode Island Legislator Pleads Guilty to Selling His Office to Local Health Care Organizations.Princessiccia

bribery crime CVS Rhode Island Blue Cross Roger Williams Medical Center

Gusty 14:14 Add Comment

Back to a big, and increasingly messy local story... former RI state senator John A. Celona has agreed to plead guilty to federal charges, according to the Providence Journal. Federal prosecutors stated that Celona and "other persons" created a "scheme ... to defraud the State of Rhode Island and its citizens of their intangible right to his honest services and to have those services performed free from deceit, favoritism, bias, conflict of interest and self-enrichment." Celona was previously indicted on similar charges in a state court action. The charges to which Celona has now admitted include:

1. Accepting over $260,000 from Roger Williams Medical Center, (at the recommendation of its Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Robert A. Urciuoli, according to the newspaper,) channeled through its subsidiary assisted living center, to: influence cities to increase their ambulance transports to the hospital; oppose legislation that would have required the hospital to make payments in lieu of taxes; back legislation to extend a moratorium on construction of new nursing facilities; influence other law-makers to oppose formation of a Cancer Council that would have been lead by former Roger Williams Medical Center medical staff members who had feuded with Urciuoli; pressure a company to pay its debt to the hospital; and pressure another to make a favorable contract with the hospital.
2. Accepting $45,000, and free travel to a golf tournament from CVS to: oppose pharmacy choice legislation; favor legislation that would permit electronic prescription of brand-name drugs; and opposing legislation to allow drug re-importation from Canada.
3. Accepting over $13,000 from Rhode Island Blue Cross to: support a bill allowing insurance companies to design affordable benefit plans; support a bill changing health insurance plan parameters for small business; and oppose a bill requiring health insurers to cover prosthetic devices and modifying limits on their investments.

According to the news article, investigations of the roles of Roger Williams Medical Center, CVS, and Rhode Island Blue Cross in this are on-going.
This single case illustrates that mismanagement is not limited to particular types of health care organizations, and that problems at one organization may easily get tangled up with problems in others.
It also illustrates the wide-ranging effects of mismanagement and corruption.

Princess Health and Guidant Executives Sued for Securities Fraud. Princessiccia

Princess Health and Guidant Executives Sued for Securities Fraud. Princessiccia

fraud Guidant

Gusty 14:09 Add Comment

Those hits just keep on coming for Guidant Corp. The Indianapolis Star reported that Guidant and six of its top executives were named as defendants in a securities fraud lawsuit. The suit charges that the executives "concealed long-standing, life-threatening defects" in its products to prop up its stock price prior to the company's proposed merger with Johnson & Johnson. The suit alleges that the six executives, including Guidant Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Ronald W. Dollens, sold Guidant stock worth $39.5 million this year prior to the publication of the first news article by the NY Times about problems with Guidant's implantable cardiac defibrillators (ICDs).

Princess Health and Guidant Executives Sued for Securities Fraud.Princessiccia

Princess Health and Guidant Executives Sued for Securities Fraud.Princessiccia

fraud Guidant

Gusty 14:09 Add Comment

Those hits just keep on coming for Guidant Corp. The Indianapolis Star reported that Guidant and six of its top executives were named as defendants in a securities fraud lawsuit. The suit charges that the executives "concealed long-standing, life-threatening defects" in its products to prop up its stock price prior to the company's proposed merger with Johnson & Johnson. The suit alleges that the six executives, including Guidant Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Ronald W. Dollens, sold Guidant stock worth $39.5 million this year prior to the publication of the first news article by the NY Times about problems with Guidant's implantable cardiac defibrillators (ICDs).

Princess Health and Another Health Care Executive Pleads Guilty. Princessiccia

Princess Health and Another Health Care Executive Pleads Guilty. Princessiccia

crime fraud mission-hostile management pharmaceuticals

Gusty 13:38 Add Comment

The Charlotte Observer reported that David M. Hurley, the former Chief Operating Officer (COO) of aaiPharma Inc, agreed to plead guilty of conspiring to commit fraud. In 2003, federal prosecutors charged that Hurley made false ledger entries to overstate sales reports, revenues and earnings. In May, aaiPharma filed for bankruptcy.
An accompanying report noted that investigators are getting busier and busier with health fraud cases. In North Carolina, recoveries from health care fraud went from $2.2 million in 2000, to $18.3 million in 2004, and so far in 2005, the figure is $28 million. The reporter noted, "experts say health care fraud accounts for only a small portion of total health-care spending, but the truth is we don't know how much fraud is taking place."
Readers of Health Care Renewal may conclude that more broadly, conflicts of interest and corruption may add considerably to health care spending, while decreasing access, degrading quality, and demoralizing health care professionals.

Princess Health and Another Health Care Executive Pleads Guilty.Princessiccia

Princess Health and Another Health Care Executive Pleads Guilty.Princessiccia

crime fraud mission-hostile management pharmaceuticals

Gusty 13:38 Add Comment

The Charlotte Observer reported that David M. Hurley, the former Chief Operating Officer (COO) of aaiPharma Inc, agreed to plead guilty of conspiring to commit fraud. In 2003, federal prosecutors charged that Hurley made false ledger entries to overstate sales reports, revenues and earnings. In May, aaiPharma filed for bankruptcy.
An accompanying report noted that investigators are getting busier and busier with health fraud cases. In North Carolina, recoveries from health care fraud went from $2.2 million in 2000, to $18.3 million in 2004, and so far in 2005, the figure is $28 million. The reporter noted, "experts say health care fraud accounts for only a small portion of total health-care spending, but the truth is we don't know how much fraud is taking place."
Readers of Health Care Renewal may conclude that more broadly, conflicts of interest and corruption may add considerably to health care spending, while decreasing access, degrading quality, and demoralizing health care professionals.

Princess Health and Now Stuck Switches for Guidant. Princessiccia

Princess Health and Now Stuck Switches for Guidant. Princessiccia

Guidant ICD manufacturing problems

Gusty 13:20 Add Comment

The NY Times reported yet another problem with implantable cardiac defibrillators (ICDs) made by Guidant. This time it was a magnetic switch that could become stuck in the "off" position. Apparently, this flaw is not so serious as previous ones (see most recent post here), because it can be fixed without removing the devices. A Guidant consultant suggested that the problem affects about 6000 devices. The models affected were the Contak Renewal 3, Contak Renewal 4, Contak Renewal 3 AVT, Contak Renewal 4 AVT, and Renewal RF. The company "urged doctors ... to stop implanting" the device, but "did not say how it planned to fix the problem, when it expected to do so, or how it would fix units already implanted in patients," according to the Times. Also, "Guidant declined a request to interview its chief executive, Ronald W. Dollens."
Again, one would have hoped that the company could have done better with quality control, given that each of these devices cost about $25,000.