Becker's Hospital Review

February Issue of Becker's Hospital Review

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31 31 CEO/STRATEGY 5 Broward Health Leaders Indicted on Criminal Charges: 7 Things to Know By Ayla Ellison T he Broward County State Attorney's Office filed a criminal complaint Dec. 12 against five officials from North Broward Health District, which runs Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based Broward Health, for allegedly violating Florida's open-meetings laws to bring about the termination of the health system's former interim CEO. Here are seven things to know about the allegations against the leaders. 1. The state attorney's office served sum- monses Dec. 12 on Broward Health In- terim President and CEO Beverly Capas- so, General Counsel Lynn Barrett, board chairman Rocky Rodriguez, board mem- ber Christopher T. Ure and former board member Linda Robison. The summonses were issued after a grand jury returned an indictment against them, according to the Sun Sentinel. 2. The leaders are accused of holding pri- vate meetings at which they decided to oust former Interim CEO Pauline Grant. All five were charged with conspiracy to violate the state's public-meetings law, called the Sunshine Law. Mr. Rodriguez, Mr. Ure and Ms. Robison were also each charged with two counts of violating the public-meetings law, and Ms. Barrett was charged with solicitation to violate the public-meetings law. 3. Mr. Ure told the Sun Sentinel he is con- fident he will be exonerated. Lawyers rep- resenting Broward Health, Ms. Barrett, Ms. Capasso and Mr. Rodriguez issued a statement calling the charges "the most misguided prosecution we have ever seen." "This deeply flawed investigation was pre- determined, biased, and manipulated from the start," the defense lawyers said. "The SAO's professed interest about enforcing the Sunshine Laws is contradicted by its refusal to subpoena the most critical wit- ness to the grand jury that has essential exculpatory evidence about defendants' compliance with the Sunshine Laws." 4. Broward Health's board voted 4-1 on Dec. 1, 2016, to fire Ms. Grant. The agen- da for the meeting provided no indication that the board was considering Ms. Grant's dismissal. 5. The board voted to remove Ms. Grant from her position after an independent counsel review showed potential viola- tions of the Anti-Kickback Statute. A sub- sequent independent investigation found Ms. Grant "ran afoul" of federal anti-kick- back law when awarding emergency room contracts to orthopedic physicians seeking to participate in Broward Health North's on-call emergency department rotation. 6. The independent investigation was en- gineered by Ms. Barrett, who arranged for board members to meet individually with the outside lawyers who reviewed the alle- gations against Ms. Grant. 7. Ms. Grant, who claims no wrongdo- ing, sued Ms. Barrett and the board in De- cember 2016. She claimed they violated the Florida open-meetings law to bring about her termination. The health system count- er-sued Ms. Grant in December. n University Hospital Board Chairman Resigns After $125k 'Low-Show' Job Scandal By Leo Vartorella D onald DiFrancesco, the former Republican presi- dent of the New Jersey Senate who also served as governor from 2001 to 2002, has stepped down from his role of board chairman for Newark, N.J.-based University Hospital after it was revealed he appointed a friend to a $125,000 low-show job, according to NJ.com. Mr. DiFrancesco joined the hospital's board in 2013 and hired his friend Jill Cooperman to be a staff attorney in April 2014 for $94,000 per year. Ms. Cooperman later became Mr. DiFrancesco's personal assistant for $125,000 per year. A whistleblower complained Ms. Cooperman's responsi- bilities were vague and she was not expected to regularly come to work. An investigation by an independent law firm completed in April 2016 confirmed these allegations. After the law firm deemed Ms. Cooperman's position a low-show job, she resigned. Mr. DiFrancesco admitted Ms. Cooperman was a friend, although he stressed their rela- tionship was not romantic. He announced his resignation Dec. 17. He made no made no mention of the recent scan- dal in his letter. "I've dedicated significant effort to helping University Hospital achieve its goals and am proud of what we have achieved," wrote Mr. DiFrancesco, according to NJ.com. "I want nothing more than to see the institution be success- ful. Although I have only six months remaining on my term, I believe this is the right time for me to step aside. As such, I will leave the board on December 31." n

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