Tuesday, 27 October 2015

Princess Health and The Corporate Physicians' Dilemma - Three Hospital Systems Settle Cases Alleging Pressure on Employed Physicians to Refer Patients Within the System. Princessiccia

Princess Health and The Corporate Physicians' Dilemma - Three Hospital Systems Settle Cases Alleging Pressure on Employed Physicians to Refer Patients Within the System. Princessiccia

Physicians are sworn to provide the best possible care to each individual patient.  Yet in the US, physicians increasingly practice as employees of large organizations, sometime for-profit corporations.  Physicians may be in a bind when their bosses pressure them to make patient level decisions so as to increase revenue, regardless of their effects on the patients.

In particular, physicians' oaths may suggest that patients who require referrals for consultation, diagnosis or treatment should go to the professionals and facilities best suited to their particular problems.  However, physicians bosses may want physicians to refer patients within their organizations.

Three recent cases illustrate this sort of bind for corporate physicians.  All cases involved large monetary settlements by hospital systems of allegations that they paid physicians incentives to refer patients within the system, apparently without regard to patients' needs.  They are discussed in roughly   chronological order of media coverage.

Broward Health  (North Broward Hospital District)

The reports of the settlement appeared in mid-September, 2015.

The Actual Settlement

According to the Miami, FL, Sun-Sentinel,

Broward Health, the taxpayer-financed system of hospitals and health care facilities, will pay $69.5 million to settle federal charges that it made illegal payments to staff physicians, using a secret compensation system that rewarded doctors for patient referrals and penalized them for accepting charity cases.

In addition, according to the Miami Herald,

Broward Health Chief Executive Dr. Nabil El Sanadi signed a 46-page Corporate Integrity Agreement with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that requires the district to establish a compliance program. Among other things, the agreement imposes new duties on both commissioners and staff to monitor, report and certify that its financial arrangements with physicians and vendors meet federal requirements.

Note, however, that the Adventist system admitted only to "oversights."

Physicians' Incentives

According to the Sun-Sentinel, the filing by whistle-blower Dr Michael Reilly stated,

the hospital district maintained secret compensation records called Contribution Margin Reports for cardiologists, oncologists and orthopedic surgeons, who collected salaries of $1 million and higher. These records rewarded physicians for referrals to hospital services, such as radiology and physical therapy, and penalized them for taking on low-paying charity cases. Tying compensation to referrals could raise medical costs by generating unnecessary work and could compromise patient care, the lawsuit stated.

In one case, the lawsuit stated, orthopedic surgeons expressed concern about the quality of the hospital district's radiology and MRI services and tried to refer patients to outside providers. But they were pressured by the district's financial officials to keep the referrals within the district.

'Broward Health's scheme to overcompensate physicians in exchange for referrals over the last eight years has been a deliberate strategic plan to boost hospital admissions and outpatient visits for all paying patients, including patients with Medicare and Medicaid coverage,' the lawsuit states. 'Broward Health's financial strategists have personally profited from bonus payments based in part on hospital revenues.'

Furthermore, according to a later Sun-Sentinel article,

The title of medical director brought salary increases to several cardiologists at Broward Health, topping off pay packages that often went north of $1 million.

But according to a whistleblower's lawsuit that led to a $69.5 million settlement with the federal government this week, these doctors did little work for their extra compensation from the tax-supported hospital system.

The medical directors' contracts provided hourly compensation for work done in that position and required them to submit time records. One physician counted his personal exercise routine as his medical director's time, according to the lawsuit. Another double-dipped by counting time spent performing medical procedures that would have been performed anyway. Such 'medical director' jobs, the lawsuit said, were 'largely sham arrangements designed to boost physician compensation with little or no substantive work required in return.'
 Failure of Oversight

Also according to the Sun-Sentinel,

Reilly said he first learned of the compensation agreements when he considered taking a job with the district. When his lawyer saw the proposed contract, he told him to tear it up and stay away from such compensation schemes.

He said he brought up the issue in two public meetings and in a private conversation with the district's then-CEO, and was brushed off. He blamed 'the ignorance that made them interpret the law to fit their financial interests and the arrogance to think they could get away with it.'

Adventist Health System

This case came to light a few days later, as reported by the Orlando Sentinel, and was conceptually similar,

The Actual Settlement


In what's considered one of the largest health-care-fraud settlements involving physician referrals to hospitals, Adventist Health System is paying the U.S. government and four states, including Florida, a $118.7 million settlement.

A large portion of the settlement amount � $47 million � is based on allegations involving Florida Hospital Medical Group, which is owned by Adventist, and nearly three dozen Florida Hospitals in the state. That includes the Florida Hospitals in Orlando, Altamonte, Apopka, Celebration, east Orlando, Kissimmee and Winter Park.

Physicians' Incentives

Again from the Orlando Sentinel,

The complaints allege that Adventist initiated a corporate policy that directed its hospitals to purchase physician practices and group practices or employ physicians in their surrounding areas in order to control all patient referrals in those locations.

'To convince doctors to sell their practices to Adventist hospitals or to become hospital employees, Adventist hospitals allegedly provided excessive compensation, perks and benefits to the physicians,' according to the Phillips & Cohen complaint. 'The hospitals were willing to pay doctors more compensation than considered fair market value and absorb persistent losses in those deals because of the revenue the doctors' stream of referrals generated for Adventist from government healthcare programs and elsewhere.'

The complaint listed a number of ways Adventist allegedly rewarded doctors, including leasing a BMW and a Mustang for a surgeon; a $366,000 base salary for a family physician because of his high level of referrals for X-rays and blood tests; and a bonus of $368,000 for a dermatologist who worked only three days a week.

 To conceal this and avoid refunding payments, the health system then falsely said that the services identified in its annual cost reports were in compliance with the federal law, the lawsuits allege.

Failure of Oversight


Sherry Dorsey, who joined Adventist in 2012, was a corporate vice president whose responsibilities included oversight of physician compensation, and she found widespread problems with how the nonprofit health system compensated doctors who referred patients to Adventist hospitals, according to a statement by Marlan Wilbanks of Wilbanks & Gouinlock in Atlanta who represented Dorsey.

She complained to top health-system officials 'to no avail,' said Wilbanks.

More details  about the goings on at the local Adventist owned Park Ridge Hospital were reported by the Asheville (NC) Citizen-Times,

Hospital executives knew about serious billing and miscoding problems on Medicare and Medicaid cases, as well as overcompensation of doctors, and one executive even expressed concerns about possible jail time, terming as 'insane' the amount of money Park Ridge would owe the federal government if overbilling came to light.

Tuomey Healthcare System

This case has been in the works for years, but an apparently final outcome was announced in October, 2015.

The Actual Settlement

 As reported by the Charleston (SC) Regional Business Journal,

The Justice Department said it has resolved a $237 million judgment against Sumter-based Tuomey Healthcare System for illegally billing the Medicare program for services referred by physicians with whom the hospital had improper financial relationships.

Under the terms of the agreement, the United States will receive $72.4 million....

Unlike the other two cases, this one involved a jury finding of guilt,

On May 8, 2013, after a month-long trial, a South Carolina jury determined that the [hospital's contracts with physicians]  ... violated the Stark Law. The jury also concluded that between 2005 and 2009 Tuomey had submitted 21,730 false claims to Medicare with a total value of $39,313,065.

On Oct. 2, 2013, the district court trebled the actual damages and assessed an additional civil penalty under the False Claims Act in favor of the United States for a total of $237 million.

The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirmed the judgment on July 2.

Having to pay the $237 million fine would force it to file for bankruptcy, Tuomey officials said.

The Physicians' Incentives

 The case arose from a lawsuit filed on Oct. 4, 2005, by Michael K. Drakeford, an orthopedic surgeon who was offered, but refused to sign, one of the illegal contracts.

So,

 The government argued that Tuomey, fearing that it could lose lucrative outpatient procedure referrals to a new freestanding surgery center, entered into contracts with 19 specialist physicians that required the physicians to refer their outpatient procedures to Tuomey and, in exchange, paid them compensation that far exceeded fair market value and included part of the money Tuomey received from Medicare for the referred procedures.

Failure of Oversight

The government argued that Tuomey ignored and suppressed warnings from one of its attorneys that the physician contracts were 'risky' and raised 'red flags.'

Summary

In the US, physicians increasingly practice medicine as employees, often of large organizations, rather than as individual professionals or within professional groups.  Such employed practitioners must answer to leaders who are now usually generic managers rather than health care professionals.

In three recent legal cases, there was evidence that a hospital system provided financial incentives for employed physicians to refer patients within the system, apparently without regard to the appropriateness of such referrals to individual patients.  In several cases, hospital management ignored physicians' protests, or lawyers' or even their own middle managements' warnings.  In one case, hospital middle managers seemed to acknowledge the problematic nature of physician's incentives, but seemed powerless to protest to higher managers.   In one case, there was a jury finding of violation of US law.

These three cases, all announced within a few weeks, suggest that US hospital system management may frequently push employed physicians to keep referrals within the system , regardless of  individual patients' conditions or needs.  The reason may be to increase system revenue, and sometimes to increase the managers' own compensation.

This is another reason to think that the corporate practice of medicine, which was once banned in the US, is an increasing threat to physicians' values and an increasing cause of health care dysfunction.

Dr Arnold Relman reminded us that physicians used to shun the commercial practice of medicine (look here).  Physicians and other health professionals who sign on as full-time employees of large corporate entities have to realize that they are now beholden to managers and executives who may be hostile to their professional values, and who are subject to perverse incentives that support such hostility, including the potential for huge executive compensation

Neoliberals promised us that treating health care like a business, and an unregulated one at that, would lead to a new golden age.  The age has been golden, but mainly for the top managers of corporate medicine. 

The recent flurry of cases alleging that corporate physicians may be pushed by management into inappropriate referrals to make more money for their employees is another reason to rethink whether corporate practice of medicine should again be banned

Monday, 26 October 2015

Princess Health and Do Processed and Red Meat Cause Cancer?. Princessiccia

Princess Health and Do Processed and Red Meat Cause Cancer?. Princessiccia

Today, the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer published a statement in The Lancet detailing its position on the carcinogenicity of processed and red meat (1). The statement, resulting from a meeting of 22 scientists from 10 countries, concluded that processed meat is a group 1 carcinogen, meaning that it is "definitely carcinogenic to humans". They also judged that red meat is a group 2A carcinogen, meaning that it probably causes cancer but the evidence isn't as strong. They're mostly referring to the links between processed and red meat and digestive tract cancer, particularly cancers of the colon and rectum.

These statements were met with a media frenzy, and the expected furor from the meat industry. The most surprising thing, for me, is that anyone would be surprised by the IARC's statement.

Read more �

Tuesday, 20 October 2015

Princess Health and "The Scourge of Managerialism" - Generic Management, the Manager's Coup D'Etat, Mission-Hostile Management Rolled Up, as Described by Some Men from Down Under. Princessiccia

I just found an important article that in the June, 2015 issue of the Medical Journal of Australia(1) that sums up many of ways the leadership of medical (and most other organizations) have gone wrong.  It provides a clear, organized summary of "managerialism" in health care, which roughly rolls up what we have called generic management, the manager's coup d'etat, and aspects of mission-hostile management into a very troubling but coherent package.  I will summarize the main points, giving relevant quotes.

Recent Developments in Business Management Dogma Have Gravely Affected Health Care

Many health practitioners will consider the theory of business management to be of obscure relevance to clinical practice. They might therefore be surprised to learn that the changes that have occurred in this discipline over recent years have driven a fundamental revolution that has already transformed their daily lives, arguably in perverse and harmful ways.

These Changes Have Been Largely Anechoic

these changes have by and large been introduced insidiously, with little public debate, under the guise of unquestioned 'best practice'.

See our previous discussions of the anechoic effect, how discussion of facts and ideas that threaten what we can now call the managerialist power structure of health care are not considered appropriate for polite conversation, or public discussion

Businesses are Now Run by Professional Managers, Not Owners

The traditional control by business owners in Europe and North America gave way during the 19th century to corporate control of companies. This led to the emergence of a new group of professionals whose job it was to perform the administrative tasks of production. Consequently, management became identified as both a skill and a profession in its own right, requiring specific training and based on numerous emergent theories of practice.

These Changes Were Enabled by Neoliberalism (or Market Fundamentalism, or Economism)

Among these many vicissitudes, a decisive new departure occurred with the advent of what became known as neoliberalism in the 1980s (sometimes called Thatcherism because of its enthusiastic adoption by the Conservative government of Margaret Thatcher in the United Kingdom). A reaction against Keynesian economic policy and the welfare state, this harshly reinstated the regulatory role of the market in all aspects of economic activity and led directly to the generalisation of the standards and practices of management from the private to the public sectors. The radical cost cutting and privatisation of social services that followed the adoption of neoliberal principles became a public policy strategy rigorously embraced by governments around the world, including successive Liberal and Labor governments in Australia.

Note that this is a global problem, at least of English speaking developed countries.  The article focuses on Australia, but we have certainly seen parallels in the US and the UK.  Further, note that we have discussed this concept, also termed market fundamentalism or economism.

Managerialism Provides a One-Size Fits All Approach to the Management of All Organizations, in Which Money Becomes the Central Consideration

The particular system of beliefs and practices defining the roles and powers of managers in our present context is what is referred to as managerialism. This is defined by two basic tenets: (i) that all social organisations must conform to a single structure; and (ii) that the sole regulatory principle is the market. Both ideas have far-reaching implications. The claim that every organisation � whether it is a mining company, a hospital, a school, a professional association or a charity � must be structured according to a single model, conforming to a single set of legislative requirements, not so long ago would have seemed bizarre, but is now largely taken for granted. The principle of the market has become the solitary, or dominant, criterion for decision making, and other criteria, such as loyalty, trust, care and a commitment to critical reflection, have become displaced and devalued. Indeed, the latter are viewed as quaint anachronisms with less importance and meaning than formal procedures or standards that can be readily linked to key performance indicators, budget end points, efficiency markers and externally imposed targets.

Originally conceived as a strategy to manage large and increasingly complex organisations, in the contemporary world, no aspect of social life is now considered to be exempt from managerialist principles and practices. Policies and practices have become highly standardised, emphasising market-style incentives, devolved budgets and outsourcing, replacement of centralised budgeting with departmentalised user-pays systems, casualisation of labour, and an increasingly hierarchical approach to every aspect of institutional and social organisation.

We have frequently discussed how professional generic managers have taken over health care (sometimes referred to as the manager's coup d'etat.)  We have noted that generic managers often seem ill-informed about if not overtly hostile to the values of health care professionals and the missions of health care organizations.

Very Adverse Effects Result in Health Care and Academics

In the workplace, the authority of management is intensified, and behaviour that previously might have been regarded as bullying becomes accepted good practice. The autonomous discretion of the professional is undermined, and cuts in staff and increases in caseload occur without democratic consultation of staff.   Loyal long-term staff are dismissed and often humiliated, and rigorous monitoring of the performance of the remaining employees focuses on narrowly defined criteria relating to attainment of financial targets, efficiency and effectiveness.

The principles of managerialist theory have been applied equally to the public and the private sectors. In the health sector, it has precipitated a shift in power from clinicians to managers and a change in emphasis from a commitment to patient care to a primary concern with budgetary efficiency. Increasingly, public hospital funding is tied to reductions in bed stays and other formal criteria, and all decision making is subject to review relating to time and money. Older and chronically ill people become seen not as subjects of compassion, care and respect but as potential financial burdens. This does not mean that the system is not still staffed by skilled clinicians committed to caring for the sick and needy; it is rather that it has become increasingly harder for these professionals to do their jobs as they would like.

In the university sector, the story is much the same; all activities are assessed in relation to the prosperity of the institution as a business enterprise rather than as a social one. Education is seen as a commodity like any other, with priority given to vocational skills rather than intellectual values. Teaching and research become subordinated to administration, top-down management and obsessively applied management procedures. Researchers are required to generate external funding to support their salaries, to focus on short-term problems, with the principal purpose being to enhance the university's research ranking. The focus shifts from knowledge to grant income, from ideas to publications, from speculation to conformity, from collegiality to property, and from academic freedom to control. Rigid hierarchies are created from heads of school to deans of faculties and so on. Academic staff � once encouraged to engage in public life � are forbidden to speak publicly without permission from their managers.

Again, we have discussed these changes largely in the US context.  We have noted how modern health care leadership has threatened primary care.  We have noted how vulnerable patients become moreso in the current system, e.g., see our discussions of for-profit hospices.  We have discussed attacks on academic freedom and free speech, the plight of whistle-blowers, education that really is deceptive marketing, academic institutions mired in individual and institutional conflicts of interest, and the suppression and manipulation of clinical research.  We have noted how health care leaders have become increasingly richly rewarded, apparently despite, or perhaps because of the degradation of the health care mission over which they have presided.

The Case Study

The article provided a case study of the apparent demise of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians as a physician led organization, leading to alleged emphasis on "extreme secrecy and 'commercial in confidence," growth of conflicts of interest, risk aversion on controversial issues.  When members of the organization called for a vote to increase transparency and accountability, the hired management apparently sued their own members.

Authors' Summary

Whether the damage done to the larger institutions � the public hospitals and the universities � can be reversed, or even stemmed, is a bigger question still. The most that can be said is that even if the present, damaging phase of managerial theory and practice eventually passes, its destructive effects will linger on for many years to come.

My Summary

I now believe that the most important cause of US health care dysfunction, and likely of global health care dysfunction, are the problems in leadership and governance we have often summarized (leadership that is ill-informed, ignorant or hostile to the health care mission and professional values, incompetent, self-interested, conflicted or outright criminal or corrupt, and governance that lacks accountability, transparency, honesty, and ethics.)  In turn, it appears that these problems have been generated by the twin plagues of managerialism (generic management, the manager's coup d'etat) and neoliberalism (market fundamentalism, economism) as applied to health care.  It may be the many of the larger problems in US and global society also can be traced back to these sources.

We now see our problems in health care as part of a much larger whole, which partly explains why efforts to address specific health care problems country by country have been near futile.  We are up against something much larger than what we thought when we started Health Care Renewal in 2005.  But at least we should now be able join our efforts to those in other countries and in other sectors.   

ADDENDUM (30 October, 2015) - This post was republished on the Naked Capitalism blog.  See the comments, which are particularly interesting and important.  

Reference

1.  Komesaroff PA, Kerridge IH, Isaacs D, Brooks PM.  The scourge of managerialism and the Royal Australasian College of Physicians.  Med J Aust 2015; 202: 519- 521.  Link here.

Musical Diversion

We have to leaven this dismal post with the 1980 live version of "Down Under" by Men at Work

Sunday, 18 October 2015

Princess Health and 2015 STWM.Princessiccia

While a majority of the team tackled the Oktoberfest 5 and 10Ks, we still had a very quick squad competing at STWM.



Half Marathon
Rankings

Adam had a great performance, running 1:08, good for a new club record and second place OA!

Coach Dyce also had an amazing performance, running a massive new PB of 1:19:51.

Tracy continues to be one of our best masters runners.  She ran a strong 1:39:46, just off her PB.

Val battled injury coming into this race, but still competed hard and finished with a solid 1:40.

Payton had a great debut in the half, running 1:40:27!

Helen Broom achieved an outstanding new PB and one of her fastest races ever with a 1:42:51 finish time.

Kim Chan showed she's staying fit during her work term, coming in with a 1:45.

Kristin achieved a massive new PB, running 1:49, over 3 minutes faster than last year.

Erica Hall ran a strong 2:39.

Marathon
Rankings

Runner Rob was the only H+P athlete in action.  He posted a stellar new PB and club record of 2:37!



Road 2 hope is up next!  If we missed your results, let us know!

#cantwontstop

Princess Health and 2015 Oktoberfest 5K and 10K.Princessiccia



H+P had one of our best races ever, once again PACKED with PBs.  The new course was fast, conditions were even better, and the team took advantage.  Here are the full results:



5K:
Rankings

Brendan came in 1st OA with a massive new PB of 15:34.

Sean came in 2nd OA with a new PB of 15:58.

Graham was in next for the team, running an outstanding 17:47 PB, good for 11th OA, 3rd in his AG and 1st on our masters team.

Dave, the 50-yo all star was in right behind Graham running 17:51 and handily winning his AG.

Mike had a massive PB performance of 17:58, placing 5th for the team and 3rd in his AG.

Kailey had an outstanding PB performance of 18:09, coming in just 1s off the club record, and placed 3rd OA!

Jon Fugelsang crushed a new PB of 18:21, placing 4th in a very competitive AG.

Aidan ran a solid new PB of 18:27 off of next to no training, good enough to win his AG.

Martin Chmiel ran an amazing 18:37, a massive PB and 20 minutes faster than his PB from last year!

Gillian Willard became the 3rd H+P female ever to break 19, running 18:41 and placing second in her AG.

Don MacLeod continues to improve, breaking 20 for the first time with a 19:42 PB.

Sam ran a great new PB of 20:13- that sub-20 is within reach!

Brian Wetzler ran a very solid 20:31, one of his fastest times ever.

Vicki Zandbergen ran a great new PB of 21:16, which brought her in 3rd on our women's team and 1st in her AG.

Manny was right behind VZ with a new PB and masters club record of 21:26; good enough to win her AG as well!

Howie was in right behind with a PB by almost 1 minute, finishing in 21:51.

Dan Nukluski ran a strong 21:37, a new PB!

Jose Perez ran a very solid 22:56 in his H+P debut!

Tracey Kuchma ran an amazing new PB of 22:37, good for 2nd masters overall!

Ed ran a great time of 23:46, one of his better times in recent years.

Mike Hewitson ran a strong 23:47, but out-kicked Ed at the line!

Candice Shrigley had a great showing, finishing in 24:13 - a new PB!

Cari managed to edge out Laura in the Cari vs. Laura challenge, running a solid 24:24 PB.

Kyle continues to be one of our best up-and-coming runners, with a great 24:37 finish.

Laura ran a strong PB of 24:45!

Maddie Hobson ran a solid 25:23, good for 4th in her AG!

Gail Delanghe ran 27:26, good for 1st in her AG.

Will and Derek both enjoyed fun runs/walks as they work their way back into competitive running.

5K Teams
Full Results

The H+P Men's team finished 1st with an average time of 17:19.  This included times from Brendan, Sean, Mike, Aidan and Martin.

The H+P Masters Men's team really had a strong race despite missing some of their best runners.  Their two top runners (Dave and Graham) were in our OA team's top 5.  The next 3 to make up the roster was Jonathan, Don and Harold to give an average time of 19:11.

The H+P women's team was led by two sub-19 minute performances from Kailey and Gill.  Vicki, Cari and Laura also scored for the team, giving them an average pace of 21:29.

The FIRST EVER H+P Masters women's team had a great performance.  Manny lead the squad with a new masters club record.  Tracey, Candice, Gail and Louise made up the rest of the top 5, giving them a 25:35 average pace.  This was fast enough to beat all non-H+P teams, wow!

10K:
Rankings

Nick Burt was in first for the team with a new PB of 35:23, good for 3rd in his AG and 6th OA.

Luke came in right behind Nick with a great new masters club record of 36:12, good for the AG win
and 7th OA!

Andrea had a great 10K PB of 39:42, placing 3rd on the team, 2nd OA for females and winning her AG.  Not bad for just 1 week removed from her 3:07 CR in Chicago!

Craig was in next for the team with a great 41:05, placing 3rd in his AG.

Emily came in next for the team with her 2nd best performance ever, running 41:08 and placing 2nd in her AG.

Val Hobson posted a stellar new maters club record of 41:13, placing 2nd in her AG.

Dragan was in next for the team with a great new PB of 44:36.

Heidi continues to improve as she ran a new PB of 53:51, winning her AG.

10K Teams:
Full Results

H+P had one team in this event, winning with an average time of 38:43.  This team was comprised of Nick, Luke, Andrea, Craig and Emily.  Great work!

Battle of Waterloo:
Updated Results

This is the second stage of 3 in the battle of Waterloo.  Through 10K of competition:
- Sean sit first with a time of 33:09
- Martin sits 4th, just off the podium in 38:38.
- Gill is in 1st OA for females, in 5th OA just 4 seconds back of Martin in 38:42.
- Brian is ninth in 42:43.
- Ed is 11th, 2nd in his AG with a combined time of 48:42
- Candice sits with a time of 50:25, also 2nd in her AG.
- Cari has a time of 51:22, Laura is just behind her with a total time of 51:53!

Up next for the team..... Road 2 Hope and the RememberRun 5/8K!

#cantwontstop

Friday, 16 October 2015