Sunday, July 05, 2009
Nancy-Ann DeParle
Nancy-Ann DeParle, President Barack Obama’s health reform czar, knows a thing or two (or four) about the dark underbelly of the medical industry, after serving on the boards of numerous companies accused of illegal activities. Following her resignation as head of the Medicare program in 2000, but before she became Obama’s director of the new White House Office of Health Reform, DeParle joined laboratory, medical technology and pharmaceutical services corporations that ran afoul of state and federal officials over their business practices.
Only months after leaving the Medicare program, DeParle joined DaVita, owner and operator of kidney dialysis clinics, which earns the majority of its revenues from Medicare. DaVita purchased Gambro Healthcare, which reached an out of court settlement after being accused of Medicare fraud. DaVita also was investigated by U.S. Attorneys in Texas, Georgia, Missouri and New York for its billing practices.
Guidant Corporation, another company DeParle joined as a director, was accused of covering up safety problems with one of its most successful products, the Ancure Endograpt System, used by surgeons to help repair ailing hearts.
Yet another company DeParle has been associated with, Medco Health Solutions, was the focus of three whistleblower lawsuits, two of which involved allegations of billing irregularities.
Finally, Specialty Laboratories Inc., a California medical testing company, was busted for using unlicensed personnel shortly after DeParle joined its board in 2001. Specialty got into trouble again when California Attorney General Jerry Brown sued it and six other labs in February for allegedly defrauding the state’s Medicaid program.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
Companies Deal with Legal Issues (by Fred Schulte, Investigative Reporting Workshop, American University)
Details of DeParle’s Industry Connections (by Mia Steinle, Investigative Reporting Workshop, American University)
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