Health News
- Passport To Lose Exclusive Contract For Louisville-area Medicaid At End Of 2012; More Choice Needed, Federal Agency Says
The exclusive contract the state has with Passport Health Plan, which provides Medicaid coverage for 170,000 people in Jefferson and 16 neighboring counties, has been extended until the end of next year. But after that, the state must adopt a different...
- University Hospital Files Suit Saying It Is Not Public; Could Affect Merger, Open Records
Attorney General Jack Conway may have ruled it a public entity and thus subject to open-records laws, but University Hospital officials are insisting that's not the case and have filed a lawsuit saying it should not have to turn over documents...
- State Senator Says U Of L Doctors Used Medicaid Funds To Pay Themselves $4.8 Million In Bonuses, Seeks More Oversight
State Sen. Tim Shaughnessy has questioned a $30 million transfer of surplus Medicaid funds to Passport Health Plan board members in 2008 and 2009. Shaughnessy, a Louisville Democrat, says doctors at the University of Louisville medical school paid bonuses...
- Passport Health Plan Drops Secrecy As Managed Care Expands
Passport Health Plan, the managed-care organization for Medicaid in the Louisville area, announced today that it would no longer fight to keep its records secret, deciding not to appeal a ruling by Attorney General Jack Conway that it had to give records...
- Judge Rules Passport Managed-care Plan For Medicaid In Louisville Region Is Subject To State Open Records Act
As Kentucky prepares to put more of its Medicaid program under a managed-care system to save money, a judge has ruled that the contractor running the program's only managed-care plan is a public agency subject to the state Open Records Act. Ruling...
Health News
U of L physician groups tied to Passport Health Plan must release salary and expense records, attorney general rules
Two groups representing University of Louisville's faculty physicians have been deemed public agencies and are subject to open records laws, Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway has ruled. The groups therefore violated the Kentucky Open Records Act when they denied a request by The Courier-Journal's Tom Loftus for five years' worth of records showing employee salaries, sources of income and expenses. U of L doctors have a majority on the board of Passport Health Plan, which manages the Medicaid program for Jefferson and 15 surrounding counties.
The matter concerns the University Physicians Association and the University of Louisville Physicians. In December, Loftus requested the salary and expense documents after state Sen. Tim Shaughnessy of Louisville, right, asked the Kentucky Health and Family Services Cabinet to "examine the flow of Medicaid funds from the state through Passport to UPA," Loftus writes. State Auditor Crit Luallen did not look into the issue in her November report, which pointedly criticized Passport for excessive spending and conflicts of interest.
Though the physician groups contended they were non-profit corporations, Conway said UPA is a public agency "because it was established and created, and is controlled, by the University of Louisville School of Medicine," Conway concludes. "In all material respects, ULP mirrors UPA in the manner of its establishment, creation and control ... We are not prepared to casually dismiss these facts as 'coincidence born of practicality,' and instead find that ULP and the School of Medicine 'act as one and the same.'"
In its articles of incorporation, UPA says its mission is "to further the research mission and teaching of the praction of medicine at the University." Moreover, UPA and ULP were established and continue to be run by U of L medical school administrators, department chairs and professors. "We agree with The Courier-Journal that the suggestion that these physician administrators and/or professors, each the chair or interim chair of their respective medical school departments, came together of their own accord, and as private actors to establish and create UPA defies logic."
Shaughnessy was impressed with the findings. "It causes me to ask: How could they think they are not a public entity? What remains to be seen is whether the university accepts this ruling or continues its arguments that it is not subject to public openness." (Read more)
- Passport To Lose Exclusive Contract For Louisville-area Medicaid At End Of 2012; More Choice Needed, Federal Agency Says
The exclusive contract the state has with Passport Health Plan, which provides Medicaid coverage for 170,000 people in Jefferson and 16 neighboring counties, has been extended until the end of next year. But after that, the state must adopt a different...
- University Hospital Files Suit Saying It Is Not Public; Could Affect Merger, Open Records
Attorney General Jack Conway may have ruled it a public entity and thus subject to open-records laws, but University Hospital officials are insisting that's not the case and have filed a lawsuit saying it should not have to turn over documents...
- State Senator Says U Of L Doctors Used Medicaid Funds To Pay Themselves $4.8 Million In Bonuses, Seeks More Oversight
State Sen. Tim Shaughnessy has questioned a $30 million transfer of surplus Medicaid funds to Passport Health Plan board members in 2008 and 2009. Shaughnessy, a Louisville Democrat, says doctors at the University of Louisville medical school paid bonuses...
- Passport Health Plan Drops Secrecy As Managed Care Expands
Passport Health Plan, the managed-care organization for Medicaid in the Louisville area, announced today that it would no longer fight to keep its records secret, deciding not to appeal a ruling by Attorney General Jack Conway that it had to give records...
- Judge Rules Passport Managed-care Plan For Medicaid In Louisville Region Is Subject To State Open Records Act
As Kentucky prepares to put more of its Medicaid program under a managed-care system to save money, a judge has ruled that the contractor running the program's only managed-care plan is a public agency subject to the state Open Records Act. Ruling...