Laura
03-09-2011, 09:42 PM
Ethics complaint: Gov. Cuomo's Medicaid-fix pros too cozy with hospitals
http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2011/03/09/2011-03-09_say_andys_medicaidfix_pros_too_cozy_with_hosps. html#ixzz1G6kXipSRhttp://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2011/03/09/2011-03-09_say_andys_medicaidfix_pros_too_cozy_with_hosps. html
ALBANY - A close pal of Gov. Cuomo and three other top health care officials assigned to design a new Medicaid plan worked for agencies that improperly benefitted from the plan, an ethics complaint charges.
The complaint filed by the Center for Justice & Democracy - a group that opposes tort reform - centers on the work of a Medicaid task force Cuomo created to come up with $2.3 billion in savings.
Among those on the task force was Jeffrey Sachs, a close Cuomo friend and a paid consultant to hospitals and health care systems. The other three were hospital industry officials.
The complaint charges that a task force recommendation to cap malpractice awards at $250,000 is a "direct conflict of interest" for the men because hospitals would save big bucks from the cap.
A Sachs spokesman told The Associated Press he froze contact with the state on behalf of clients while advising the Cuomo administration.
Jim Introne, Cuomo's director of health care redesign, dismissed the complaint as an "absurd stunt."
A spokesman for the Public Integrity Commission said the complaint is being reviewed.
http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2011/03/09/2011-03-09_say_andys_medicaidfix_pros_too_cozy_with_hosps. html#ixzz1G6kXipSRhttp://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2011/03/09/2011-03-09_say_andys_medicaidfix_pros_too_cozy_with_hosps. html
ALBANY - A close pal of Gov. Cuomo and three other top health care officials assigned to design a new Medicaid plan worked for agencies that improperly benefitted from the plan, an ethics complaint charges.
The complaint filed by the Center for Justice & Democracy - a group that opposes tort reform - centers on the work of a Medicaid task force Cuomo created to come up with $2.3 billion in savings.
Among those on the task force was Jeffrey Sachs, a close Cuomo friend and a paid consultant to hospitals and health care systems. The other three were hospital industry officials.
The complaint charges that a task force recommendation to cap malpractice awards at $250,000 is a "direct conflict of interest" for the men because hospitals would save big bucks from the cap.
A Sachs spokesman told The Associated Press he froze contact with the state on behalf of clients while advising the Cuomo administration.
Jim Introne, Cuomo's director of health care redesign, dismissed the complaint as an "absurd stunt."
A spokesman for the Public Integrity Commission said the complaint is being reviewed.