Becker's ASC Review

37 JOINT VENTURES UPMC's 24-member board faces criticism over management of nonprofit By Morgan Haefner U PMC's board of directors are facing ongoing criticism over how they manage the nonprofit health system's charitable assets, according to the Pittsburgh Post- Gazette. UPMC's 24-member board, comprising many philanthropists and high-level executives from the area, came under fire earlier this year when Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro wanted to replace all of the members by 2020. Mr. Shapiro, who at the time was pursuing a legal resolution for a nearly dec- adelong fight between UPMC and Pittsburgh-based Highmark Health, accused the board of failing to oversee UPMC's chari- table mission. In a February filing cited by the Post-Gazette, Pennsylvania of- ficials argued that the health system's executives and board "ap- pear to simply prefer the status and perquisites associated with purely commercial pursuits rather than furthering the public's interests in high-quality, cost-effective and accessible health- care." UPMC denied all claims made by state officials in court. In addition to directing its charitable strategy, UPMC's board members are tasked with deciding the future of President and CEO Jeffrey Romoff and his compensation. Despite their power, the board members remained silent dur- ing the Highmark dispute. After UPMC and Highmark agreed to a 10-year relationship to resolve their feud, the Post-Gazette asked to interview all 24 board members. Fifteen didn't respond, four declined to comment and five directed reporters to UPMC spokesperson Paul Wood, who said: "I will not make UPMC board members available for interviews on this subject." The Post-Gazette dug deeper and reported that seven of the board members have disclosed conflicts of interest for business relationships with UPMC, which are legal. For example, three companies of which three board members are executives pur- chase health insurance from UPMC. A food distribution compa- ny led by one of the members received $3.6 million from UPMC in fiscal year 2018 for providing food to the health system. When Becker's reached out to UPMC for comment, Mr. Wood disputed many of the details presented in the Post-Gazette's article, including the compensation of a UPMC employee who is related to a board member. Mr. Wood said the compensa- tion was misreported as $242,000, when it is in fact $84,564, as disclosed in an IRS form shared with Becker's. He pointed to a quote from an interview the Post-Gazette did with David Renz, director of the Midwest Center for Nonprofit Leadership at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, as a signifi- cant perspective on nonprofit board members' duty to speak publicly: "It is, in fact, an ethical obligation of a board member not to speak on behalf of the board unless the board delegates the responsibility or authority of doing so to them," Mr. Renz told the publication. n Telemedicine company CEO pleads guilty in $424M fraud scheme By Ayla Ellison T he owner and CEO of a telemedicine company pleaded guilty Sept. 6 for his role in a $424 million fraud scheme, which is part of one of the largest healthcare scams ever prosecuted by the Department of Justice. Lester Stockett, owner of the Video Doctor Network and CEO of AffordADoc, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to defraud the U.S. and pay and receive healthcare kickbacks, and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. Mr. Stockett made several admissions as part of his guilty plea. He ad- mitted that he and others agreed to solicit and receive illegal kickbacks and bribes from patient recruiters, pharmacies, medical equipment companies and others in exchange for arranging for physicians to or- der medically unnecessary orthotic braces for Medicare beneficiaries. Mr. Stockett was one of 24 defendants charged in April for their alleged roles in the $1.2 billion scam. According to federal prosecu- tors, the complex scheme began with telemarketers calling Medicare beneficiaries and getting them to accept free or low-cost durable medi- cal equipment braces, regardless of medical necessity. e call centers would transfer Medicare beneficiaries to telemedicine companies for consultations with physicians, who allegedly prescribed the orthopedic braces to patients whom they had never met. e call centers would sell the prescriptions to DME companies, which shipped the braces to beneficiaries, billed Medicare and paid kickbacks to physicians. In connection with his guilty plea, Mr. Stockett also admitted he and other Video Doctor Network executives schemed to defraud inves- tors and conspired to engage in domestic and international money laundering, according to the Justice Department. As part of his plea agreement, Mr. Stockett agreed to pay the federal government $200 million in restitution and forfeit certain assets tied to the fraud scheme. Mr. Stockett's sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 16. n Yearly salary ranges for 3 medical professions By Rachel Popa P ayScale reports real-time salary data from over 54 million reports from job seekers, fact -checking the data against private and public compensation data. Here's how pay ranges for three medical professions stack up: 1. Physician: $182,000 - $246,000 2. Registered nurse: $63,000 - $89,000 3. Physician assistant: $94,000 - $122,000. n

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