BIDMC fined $100K for employing felon convicted of healthcare fraud

BIDMC has agreed to pay $99,787.75 in penalties for employing an individual that Medicare’s Inspector General alleged the hospital knew or should have known was excluded from participation in Federal health care programs  including Medicare. The BIDMC employee, who worked at BIDMC from 2006-2009, was excluded following a “felony conviction relating to health care fraud.”

Freedom of Information Request, Office of the Inspector General, Case No. 2010-0451SS, September 30, 2010. See also http://oig.hhs.gov/fraud/exclusions/authorities.asp, exclusion under 128(a)(3)† 1320a-7(a)(3) Felony conviction relating to health care fraud. Minimum Period: 5 years.

Former BIDMC employee sentenced to prison for embezzling $1 Million

Former Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center employee Richard P. Webb has been sentenced to 3 ½ years in prison after pleading guilty to stealing more than $1 million while an employed at the hospital's Ear, Nose and Throat Center.  According to federal officials, during the period between January 2006 and April 2009, Webb deposited checks made out to 170 Beth Israel Deaconess patients and vendors into his own bank account and stole medical equipment -- including hearing aids -- and returned the items for cash. Webb has also been ordered to pay more than $1 million in restitution for his crimes and faces up to three years probation following the completion of his sentence.

June 10, 2010: Embezzler gets 3 1/2 years in prison

US Attorney's Press Release

March 4, 2010: Ex-hospital worker guilty in $1m theft
Feb. 24, 2010: Ex-employee accused of $1m theft

Feb. 24, 2010: Ex-Beth Israel assistant to admit he stole $1M

  Feb. 23, 2010: Hospital Worker Admits Stealing $1M

Feb. 23, 2010: Beth Israel Employee Accused Of Stealing $1M 

Beth Israel Deaconess Employee to Plead Guilty to Embezzling $1 Million

A practice assistant at the Ear, Nose and Throat Center at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center will plead guilty to charges of medical theft and embezzlement. Federal officials allege that during the period between January 2006 and April 2009, BIDMC employee Richard Webb deposited checks made out to 170 Beth Israel Deaconess patients and vendors into his own bank account and stole medical equipment -- including hearing aids -- and returned the items for cash.

A physicians' group at Beth Israel Deaconess filed a civil suit against Bank of America in May 2009 for allowing Webb to submit the checks for payment into his personal account. Click here to read the coverage in the Boston Globe.

If convicted, Webb would face up to 10 years in prison and over $2.1 million in fines.

March 4, 2010: Ex-hospital worker guilty in $1m theft
Feb. 24, 2010: Ex-employee accused of $1m theft

Feb. 24, 2010: Ex-Beth Israel assistant to admit he stole $1M

  Feb. 23, 2010: Hospital Worker Admits Stealing $1M

Feb. 23, 2010: Beth Israel Employee Accused Of Stealing $1M 

Another Beth Israel Advisory Board Member under regulatory investigation:

Beth Israel Deaconess Trustee Subpoenaed by NY Attorney General in Bank of America Probe

John T. Collins, a “trustee for life” of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) and former member of the hospital’s Board of Directors, has been subpoenaed in connection with New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo’s investigation of Bank of America’s purchase of Merrill Lynch. Cuomo is in the process of subpoenaing Collins and others to determine whether bank officials deliberately withheld information from shareholders and whether directors of Bank of America protected the rights of shareholders. BIDMC Overseer Robert Jaffe stepped down from the Board of Overseers of BIDMC in March 2009 following concerns raised by 1199SEIU and is under investigation by the SEC.

September 18, 2009: N.Y. inquiry has Boston business A-list in its sights

June 23, 2009: Broker aided Madoff: US says Jaffe's profits called fraudulent; SEC seeks return of investor money

Former Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Overseer Robert Jaffe has been charged with securities fraud, after being accused of earning as much as $150 million by steering investors toward Bernard Madoff. Robert Jaffe resigned from the BIDMC Board of Overseers following concerns raised by 1199SEIU in February.

November 2008: 10 Things Hospital CEOs Won't Tell You
Synopsis: Under the heading "Just because we're nonprofit doesn't mean we're good guys", The Wall Street Journal's Smart Money Magazine reports on SEIU's efforts to expose BIDMC's questionable financial disclosure practices, which inflate the level of charity care provided to the poor and uninsured.

BID-Needham overcharged Medicare by $569,000 in just one year.

An important part of the mission of the healthcare workers union, 1199SEIU, is to be an industry watchdog and ensure that resources are being used to protect patient care, increase healthcare access and improve hospital jobs.  To this end, 1199SEIU regularly conducts studies of hospital funding and spending practices.  When 1199SEIU discovered that BIDMC Needham had overcharged Medicare, it notified the hospital’s board of directors, after which the sum was repaid.
Read the letter to the BID-Needham and CareGroup boards.

February 24, 2008: Hospital, Town Close on Payment
After being taken over Beth Israel Deaconess, BID-Needham went seven years without paying for its fair share of city services.

February 20, 2008: Hospital’s Accounting is Under Fire by a Union
The New York Times reports on efforts to get BIDMC’s fiduciaries to correct misleading charity care figures, which may have been overstated by millions of dollars.

February 16, 2008: Changing High-Rate Bonds is Costly
BIDMC’s parent company paid millions of dollars to bankers and lawyers in a questionable bond restructuring deal, incurring costs that could be passed on to patients and taxpayers.