Davy Crockett
Banned
- Joined
- Dec 18, 2011
- Messages
- 247
Santorum addresses investigation of Medicaid fraud by company for which he was a board member
By Chris Moody | The Ticket – Tue, Jan 3, 2012
The original suit, filed on June 14, 2007, by three therapists formerly employed by the Marion Youth Center, cited allegedly fraudulent practices dating back to 2004, before Santorum joined the board. The suit claimed that health care professionals within the company routinely billed Medicaid for services they did not provide. They alleged that employees at the Marion facility claimed reimbursement for 30-minute consultations with patients, when instead they conducted what the plaintiffs term "drive-by therapy sessions." The suit alleges that these consultations took place in the facility's hallways, and lasted only a few seconds.
Barbara Jones, a former employee at the facility who had been allegedly tasked with fabricating a Medicaid form, testified in a complaint filed with the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia on July 29, 2010, that her superior retaliated against her for reporting the allegedly falsified claim to the authorities. If Jones's charge is borne out, the supervisor's action would be a possible violation of laws protecting corporate whistleblowers. According to court documents, the company filed a motion to dismiss the case in December 2010, arguing that Jones was not entitled to whistleblower protection because she did not sufficiently prove that she was employed by the company.
While all this legal activity was going on, as a board member, Santorum accumulated 45,000 class B common stock options, acquiring the last 15,000 options as late as January 2011, according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Santorum stepped down from his position on the company's board on June 15, 2011, citing his plan to pursue his candidacy for president, and exercised his stock options.
In the company's 2010 annual SEC filings--a document that has Santorum's signature at the bottom--UHS said that it was fighting the federal suit and "will continue to defend ourselves vigorously against the government's and the former employees' allegations," adding, "there can be no assurance that we will prevail in the litigation or that the case will be limited to the Marion Youth Center."
The facility at the center of the accusations announced in November 2011 that it would be closing its doors.
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/...aid-fraud-company-board-member-173040782.html
By Chris Moody | The Ticket – Tue, Jan 3, 2012
The original suit, filed on June 14, 2007, by three therapists formerly employed by the Marion Youth Center, cited allegedly fraudulent practices dating back to 2004, before Santorum joined the board. The suit claimed that health care professionals within the company routinely billed Medicaid for services they did not provide. They alleged that employees at the Marion facility claimed reimbursement for 30-minute consultations with patients, when instead they conducted what the plaintiffs term "drive-by therapy sessions." The suit alleges that these consultations took place in the facility's hallways, and lasted only a few seconds.
Barbara Jones, a former employee at the facility who had been allegedly tasked with fabricating a Medicaid form, testified in a complaint filed with the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia on July 29, 2010, that her superior retaliated against her for reporting the allegedly falsified claim to the authorities. If Jones's charge is borne out, the supervisor's action would be a possible violation of laws protecting corporate whistleblowers. According to court documents, the company filed a motion to dismiss the case in December 2010, arguing that Jones was not entitled to whistleblower protection because she did not sufficiently prove that she was employed by the company.
While all this legal activity was going on, as a board member, Santorum accumulated 45,000 class B common stock options, acquiring the last 15,000 options as late as January 2011, according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Santorum stepped down from his position on the company's board on June 15, 2011, citing his plan to pursue his candidacy for president, and exercised his stock options.
In the company's 2010 annual SEC filings--a document that has Santorum's signature at the bottom--UHS said that it was fighting the federal suit and "will continue to defend ourselves vigorously against the government's and the former employees' allegations," adding, "there can be no assurance that we will prevail in the litigation or that the case will be limited to the Marion Youth Center."
The facility at the center of the accusations announced in November 2011 that it would be closing its doors.
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/...aid-fraud-company-board-member-173040782.html
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