CardioSom

Discussion in 'Respiratory' started by Anonymous, Feb 20, 2008 at 1:26 PM.

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  1. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    Hey you know what is funny you can tell which corporate people are posting comments on here like Sharon.
     

  2. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    Too funny. I just heard from an inside source that Kevin Greisel has resigned and that Tim Miller has been demoted. Guess that's what happens when you give control of your company to the new investors? They are in real trouble.
     
  3. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    We all know that companies are using whichever PAP unit they can get the cheapest...i.e. the Resmed S9. When I was at Cardiosom we always used the S8 Elite for the clinical compliance data...not just for the hours of use.

    Also worked with plenty of patients who had PAP units set up by non-clinical people from Apria and never had any clinical follow up...only the calls for resuply. That's not good follow up.
     
  4. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    Investors beware!!!!!!!
    These investors are blind! How can you take someone with previous legal issues and put them in him in a position where he deals with the financials and decisions of a company. I can’t believe that the investors trust a guy with the background he has. His politician friend has come clean on the allegations from their past. I wonder what Medicare would do if they had knowledge of this guy’s role with Cardiosom? You have to think that they will be watching. After what happened below. Jay knew all about what was happening and he like others figured out how to walk. Now Cardiosom is going to let this guy run the company?

    By John Davis, WGCU
    FORT MYERS (2010-6-18) -
    Two whistleblowers say the new front-runner in the Republican race for governor is lying when he says he did not know about fraud in his former company, the Columbia/HCA hospital chain.

    In July 1997, FBI agents raided Columbia/HCA accounting offices in seven states, including Florida. Within days, Columbia’s board of directors ousted Scott, but gave him a nearly $10 million severance package, including stock shares worth $300 million and a $1 million a year consulting contract.

    The company wound up paying more than $1.7 billion for defrauding the federal Medicare and Medicaid programs.
    Scott says he didn’t know about his company’s fraudulent billing practices and if he had, he’d have fired those responsible.
    But company whistleblower John Schilling of Naples says Scott must be lying.
    “He’s pulling the wool over your eyes if he says that he wasn’t aware of this and he would have fired anybody if he would have been aware of it. I think it’s a bunch of malarkey,” Schilling said.

    Schilling worked for Columbia as a Medicare reimbursement supervisor in Fort Myers. His whistleblower case, along with others, helped put an end to the fraud and hold the company accountable.
    Schilling first discovered the company’s fraudulent billing practices in 1993 after a call from a Medicare auditor about a cost reporting issue with Fawcett Memorial Hospital in Port Charlotte.

    Schilling describes a meeting he had with Columbia administrators, during which he was instructed to “throw federal auditors off the track.” That included offering one of the auditors a job.
    “They didn’t use the word conspire, but it was basically a conspiracy of, let’s think of some ideas and have John do this,” he said.

    “Well, at the end of that to-do list, Jay Jarrell, the CFO said, ‘Well, if all else fails, let’s just offer the Medicare auditor a job with the company.’ And it was at that point, that I really started to feel sick to my stomach that, this is not right.

    “You don’t want to offer a Medicare auditor a job. If this was a mistake, why are we trying to hide this?” he said.
    Schilling left the company and filed a lawsuit on behalf of the federal government. Then Columbia began courting Schilling to come back. At this time, the FBI was already on the case – and Schilling says his life began to resemble a John Grisham novel.

    “The FBI saw that it was a good opportunity for me to get back into the organization and kind of be their eyes and ears,” Schilling said.
    He said the FBI wanted help with their search warrants and “just to kind of be that fly on the wall or spy within the organization,” he said.

    “I worked my way back into the company. They had no idea I was a government informant,” he said.
    Schilling’s case was merged with that of another whistleblower in Montana: former HCA hospital CFO Jim Alderson.
    Alderson says he believes he was fired because of his refusal to abide by accounting practices that maintained two separate sets of books: one showing reimbursements submitted to Medicare, and another secret book documenting fraudulent claims that would be rejected if found by Medicare auditors.
    The company maintained large reserve funds in case auditors ever discovered the false claims and had to pay up. Alderson says the practice was so widespread, that Scott had to know about it.

    “These reserves represented anywhere from 25 to 35 percent of the bottom line of the company in its heyday,” Alderson said.
    “It’s just totally unfeasible that a CEO making the kind of money he was making, that you wouldn’t know where 30 percent of your bottom line came from. How could you sit in a board room and say, ‘Gee, I wonder; we had record profits this year. I wonder where they came from?’”

    Alderson says fraud also helped Scott grow the company at such a rapid rate.
    “It’s a house of cards. From what we found in our case was Medicare defrauding paid for the acquisitions,” he said.
    “They charged the Medicare program interest when they’d buy these other hospitals and that, in many cases, was not legal and that was a major part of our case,” Alderson said.
    One of four Columbia/HCA executives convicted in the case was Bob Whiteside. He was later acquitted on appeal and says he still stands by Scott, his former boss.
    Whiteside wouldn’t consent to a recorded interview. He says the billing practices didn’t start with Scott, but were adopted from one of the other companies acquired by Columbia.
    Whiteside says the illegal activity was widespread within the healthcare industry, but since Columbia/HCA was the largest, the government made an example of it.
    Schilling agrees that the fraud didn’t start with Columbia, but says Scott’s profit driven and cut-throat corporate culture encouraged the practice to grow. Schilling says administrators who met profit goals were rewarded with bonuses of 50 percent or more of their base salary.
    “They took shortcuts, they did whatever it took to get to it because they were motivated by the money,” Schilling said.

    “They had to meet certain profit margins and if they didn’t meet them, I tell you what, I saw several CEOs of hospitals or CFOs that got fired because they didn’t cut it,” he said.
    Scott was never charged and says he was never questioned in the case. After leaving Columbia, he invested in a television network which became Discovery Health. He also co-founded Solantic Corporation; a chain of urgent care centers in Northeast Florida.
    At an event in Tampa Friday, Scott characterized his former company's actions as a mistake.
    "Sometimes, people make mistakes. And when you're CEO, you take responsibility - which I do - but you talk about the things you do well, which I do, and the things you've got to work on," Scott said.

    "We drove down the cost of health care, we improved outcomes, we improved patient satisfaction. Could we have hired more internal auditors? You'd better believe it.
    "But that's the difference. In business, if something goes wrong, you're held accountable. In government - think about all the things that've gone wrong. Have you seen politicians take responsibility? They don't. So what you want in a leader is you want someone who learns, and take those learnings, and applies it to any issue and takes responsibility,"
    Scott said.
     
  5. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    LOOK......Sharon wrote this!
     
  6. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    "You lay down with dogs you'll get fleas" Well in CardioSom's case jail time!
     
  7. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    Wow, they do great work where I am. No one is ever happy when they lose their wages or job. I know The Cardiosom here and you wouldn't think that they had just got a pay cut the way they act/work. They treat our patients well and our patients love them.
     
  8. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    I've seen nothing that would indicate Medicare fraud. However it's true that they don't staff properly. They laid off a lot of people and then expected others to pick up the slack for only 40 hours of pay. There are a lot of good people working with them because of the bad economy and job shortages. If any of those people aren't doing a good job it's because they're tired, from being overworked.
     
  9. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    I use to work for Cardiosom and lost my job recently with them due to "reduction in workforce." I never saw any signs of Medicare/Medicaid fraud. In fact, the managers and staff worked hard at staying on top of Medicare guidelines and if they ever had any doubt they always consulted Medicare's guidelines.
    However, they are under-staffed and overworked. I found my former co-workers and lower management to be hard working, ethical, and dedicated employees. They are some of the best people I've had the privilege to work with.
     
  10. This is Ryan Michalowski, Director of Human Resources for Dormir, Inc. After reading through these post, it appears there's a lot of misconception, misinformed posters and possibly disgruntled former/current employees voicing opinions disguised as fact.

    Should anyone have questions or in search of clarification about CardioSom or any of our affiliates; please do not hesistate to contact me at rmichalowski [at] cardiosom.com.
     
  11. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    No misconceptions or misinformation here. The fact that Cardiosom employees are overworked and have been rewarded for their hard work with a reduction in pay is something that you can't sweep away Ryan.

    If former employees are disgruntled then they have good reason to be. To be "reduced" after devoting yourself to a company and it's mission is a slap in the face.

    I will give you kudos for having the nerve to post this message.
     
  12. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    Telling Medicare you have the required medical documentation to support the need of a service you are billing for -when you don't.......priceless!
    (to the Medicare RACs when he/she arrives)
     
  13. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    I've never seen that. They took great care Not to bill Medicare until they had all their documentation.
     
  14. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    That is true. They were anal about holding billing until all documentation was received.

    Their true problem is that they are running branches without clinical staffing. You have people who have had no prior respiratory experience (such as a former hairdresser running a branch) with a part time CSR and both are setting up CPAP equipment and performing other clinical tasks that they have no business doing.
     
  15. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    Mr. Michalowski you can’t be serious do you have horse blinders on? Are you really that out of touch with reality as the new leaders of your ship? You seriously think that you treat employees respectfully HA! Let’s talk about Mississippi branch staff members. Oh sorry, I mean the one staff member, one person who is the Manager, the respiratory therapist, CSR, sales rep, and delivery tech with a Keep Treating Contract’s. I am not sure that even meets Medicare or HQAA standards. You as usual get your broom out and sweep this under the rug like this is professional and OK. One person can’t do it all. How about in other states where employees have to beg Carmel to get the rent and utilities paid. It is pretty sad when your corporate office asks you if you really need the utilities paid. YEAH HERE IS YOU’RE SIGN- No let’s pay it, we will figure out how we can work in the dark with no power and water. There is no misconception nor has anyone been misinformed. This is real man. The only reason that nobody stands up to you guys is you will just cut them like you do to everyone. The two best people of that company were stabbed in the back by a man whose mission statement is I plead the 5th. Hey when there is smoke there is fire. Hundreds of people don’t just decide to make allegations out of he blue about the same things. You have a college education and you can figure this out. Hey I have a good topic: How about those neat marketing contracts? Does any one want to talk about them? As far as calling you can anyone call you regarding the gentleman who now works for Cardiosom and his role with HSC or will you plead the 5th too.
     
  16. Alice Walker

    Alice Walker Guest

    Ok, I was looking to apply for a job and did a search, so here I am. Just curious...Why has everyone been afraid to post their names except the Ryan guy?
     
  17. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    Don't do it.
     
  18. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    Don't be so confident about that medical documentation thing.....if I were in a branch I would make sure I know exactly what the requirements are for that documentation.....I personally have seen claims released from on-hold to please someone in a suit. And it will be the branch location(provider number) that suffers if things are KX'd inappropriately.
     
  19. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    None of this will matter when these third party auditors for Medicare come around. It is only a matter of time. They will have a field day with issues like that.
     
  20. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    This sonunds condescending, not intended. Have you read this thread? The Ryan guy is our for lack of better terms HR director. Can you imagine having this many disgruntled employees me being one of them. None of these people care. Their best defense is Reduction In Workforce if you speak your mind. There are so many more lives out there they terminated for speaking out. We need our jobs! After these people kick you out they hire some one else for the same position with the same job description but a different title. Nifty isn't it. It is amazing that the a person in operations can post and taunt employees on here and with her very handsome 6 figure salary.