Wider Probe of Medicare Firms
Senate Panel Expands Inquiry Into Contractors' Finances
By Gilbert M. Gaul
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, December 10, 2005; Page A04
A Senate committee is expanding its probe of private Medicare contractors that receive hundreds of millions of dollars annually from the government to investigate patient complaints and help hospitals and nursing homes improve care.
In a letter sent Thursday to a New Jersey contractor, the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee asked for a detailed accounting of the group's operations and finances. Among the questions: why the contractor paid more than $500,000 to the 21 members of its nonprofit board and spent an additional $100,000 on retreats for the directors in the Cayman Islands and California in 2003 and 2004.
"It is difficult to understand why an entire board would need to travel from New Jersey to the Grand Cayman to discuss improving quality of care for
beneficiaries, but I am eager to receive your detailed and documented explanations," wrote Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa).
The New Jersey contractor, which recently changed its name from PRONJ to Healthcare Quality Strategies Inc., is set up as a charity under the tax code. In 2003, it reported revenue of $11.8 million from Medicare and other sources, according to its tax return.
It is one of 53 contractors known as Quality Improvement Organizations that Medicare pays about $300 million a year to investigate complaints and improve care provided by doctors, hospitals and nursing homes....
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/09/AR2005120901804.html