Doctors at the University of Louisville medical school used about $4.8 million in state Medicaid funds to pay themselves “financial bonuses” — money that was supposed to be used for indigent care, state Sen. Tim Shaughnessy says.
And they used another $5.2 million for an electronic records system that would make U of L doctors eligible for additional bonuses from the federal government, according to new details of a controversial transaction that Shaughnessy said he recently obtained from Attorney General Jack Conway’s office.
A spokeswoman for Conway said Wednesday that the office determined only that the $4.8 million was compensation for U of L doctors. But Shaughnessy insisted that Conway’s staff described the money as “bonuses” at a recent meeting.
“I was shocked,’’ said Shaughnessy, a Louisville Democrat who was the first to publicly question a transfer of about $30 million in surplus health funds in 2008 and 2009 from Passport Health Plan to U of L, University Physicians Associates, or UPA, and others represented on Passport’s board.
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Under a settlement Conway announced in July, UPA will repay the state $9 million over five years. Other groups that received funds from Passport’s $30 million transfer agreed to repay the funds according to various schedules. They include U of L, University Medical Center and local hospitals that provided capital to start Passport.But Shaughnessy said the repayment doesn’t address his basic concern — that U of L’s board wasn’t involved in major financial transactions involving groups with which it is affiliated, including Passport, UPA and the U of L medical center.
“There was no involvement of the U of L Board of Trustees,” Shaughnessy said. “How did these millions of dollars get allocated without any involvement of the board?”
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It is a bad news. We should use the medical fund properly.
EZBEAUTIFULSKIN
The overall objective of the Fund Centinela Medical is to promote and improve health and quality of life for children and adults living in Centinela Valley.