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health and safety : Fletcher Allen Health Care : Renaissance Project scandal
Fletcher-Allen Health Care Renaissance Project Scandal
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2002-11-20: The debate continues tonight over how F.A.H.C.
should be managed in the future and what other agencies and people are to blame for the hospital's financial fallout. There are plenty of fingers being pointed by state politicians.
Congressman Bernie Sanders is crystal clear with his opinion on the Fletcher Allen scandal. He says change is needed now.
Sanders said, "I can't go back to Washington and say increase Medicare and Medicaid at a time when a hospital may be wasting substantial sums of that money or using it in an illegal way."
He doesn't think any new construction phases should commence.
While the blame game is being played, Congressman Bernie Sanders is pointing a finger at the outgoing Dean administration and the legislature.
He says the state should protect the public's interest, and instead they provided inexcusably weak oversight.
popular
Click here to read more.
2001-12-12: The state can do only so much to pressure
Fletcher Allen Health Care into opening up if the Burlington hospital refuses to do so on its own.
The push to make Vermont's largest hospital more transparent took center stage Tuesday at a town meeting sponsored by Rep. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., where several speakers said Fletcher Allen board meetings and documents should be public record. Vermonters have called for accountability from Fletcher Allen in the wake of a scandal that could drive up health care rates and has sullied the hospital's reputation.
Forcing the hospital to function more openly could prove difficult.
A portion of the hospital's board meetings are open to the public but Fletcher Allen documents are not. Decisions are made behind closed doors. Opening hospital business further could throw off the ''balance'' between operating competitively and serving the public interest, according to the hospital.
The state might not be able to require a private organization to adhere to the same open-meetings laws....
Click here to read more.
2001-12-21: Vermont is turning up the heat on FAHC.
Health care regulators have gone to court to get documents related to the hospital's expansion.
Fletcher Allen just began a 170 million dollar construction project -- approved by the state earlier this year. But with recent changes -- the state is studying whether those changes comply with the original permit. Insurance Commissioner Betsy Costle wanted to see documents related to the proposed parking garage. Fletcher Allen refused -- saying the parking garage does not require state review.
So Commissioner Costle got a subpeona to force Fletcher Allen to turn over the documents. Fletcher Allen says they are in the process of reviewing the order and will decide how to respond after the holidays. -- end --
2002-01-02: F.A.H.C. has some explaining to do,
according to state regulators.
The state's largest hospital must respond to a state subpoena by Thursday to produce documentation relating to its planned parking garage.
Regulators are trying to decipher the relationship between Fletcher Allen and the JP Morgan Chase company, which is financing the garage's construction. Fletcher Allen
opposes the intrusion because the garage is not part of the hospital's state-approved .4 million expansion and thus should be free from review, according to a recent letter
from Dave Demers, the hospital's senior vice president of planning and business development.
State regulators asked in mid-December for more information about the garage, which Fletcher Allen management refused to supply.
2002-01-04: State regulators extended the deadline for FAHC
to produce documents relating to a planned parking garage at the Burlington hospital.
Fletcher Allen is cooperating with regulators and has until Monday to produce the documents, said Elizabeth Costle, commissioner of Vermont's Department of Banking, Insurance, Securities and Health Care Administration. That deadline could be pushed back further as the hospital works to disclose details of its relationship with the company paying for the garage construction, Costle said.
Costle subpoenaed the hospital's paperwork after Fletcher Allen management refused to turn over documents she requested. The original deadline was 10 a.m. Thursday. More than half a dozen groups Thursday united to condemn what they called Fletcher Allen's pattern of withholding information from the state.
2002-01-11: Fletcher Allen Hospital in Burlington turned over
nearly 1,000 pages of documents to the state of Vermont. The paperwork explains how the hospital plans to pay for its new underground parking garage. The garage is expected to cost million, which is twice the original estimate.
Regulators demanded the paperwork to determine if the changes violate state permits.
2002-01-31: The state will determine whether Vermont's
largest hospital has broken the law in a trial-like hearing next month.
State regulators are considering whether Fletcher Allen Health Care violated state-ordered conditions in the building of a .8 million underground parking garage. The state granted Fletcher Allen a permit for the hospital's .4 million expansion on the understanding that a third party would build and run the garage. Fletcher Allen documents indicate plans for the hospital to pay for and operate the garage.
The state notified Fletcher Allen this week of the hearing. The hospital will have to defend its actions Feb. 11 in front of an agency appointee acting as judge.
Fletcher Allen management is reviewing the information, spokesman Mike Noble said Wednesday.
2002-07-25: F.A.H.C.'s CEO deliberately avoided state
oversight by not seeking a permit for a million parking garage, a former hospital executive told regulators.
William Boettcher, who has headed Fletcher Allen since 1998, told fellow executives he would rather sue Vermont regulators than apply for a state permit, former hospital Chief Financial Officer David Cox said in sworn testimony that was released this week. A hospital must apply for the state-issued permit - called a certificate of need - for capital projects exceeding .5 million.
Cox said Boettcher was determined that the garage expense not show up on Fletcher Allen’s books and that the project skirt state regulation.
Click here to read more.
2002-08-01: F.A.H.C.’s board of trustees put the hospital’s top
executive, William Boettcher, on paid administrative leave Wednesday and added three outsiders to a panel investigating alleged wrongdoing.
Philip Drumheller, chairman of Fletcher Allen’s board of trustees, and board member Louise McCarren announced the two decisions after an emergency board meeting called to respond to a wave of controversy swirling around the state’s largest hospital.
Edwin Colodny, former University of Vermont interim president, and former KPMG partner David Coates will join three Fletcher Allen board members on a committee investigating the hospital’s compliance with state laws. The additions come after allegations that the board would be unable to objectively investigate its own actions and those of senior hospital management.
Colodny and Coates will choose a third hospital outsider to join board members McCarren, Edwin Bovill and Gretchen Morse on the investigating committee, said McCarren, the committee’s chairwoman and the president of Verizon
Click here to read more.
2002-08-02: Fletcher Allen Health Care's board placed CEO
on paid leave Wednesday and added three outsiders to a panel investigating alleged wrongdoing. ...
an emergency board meeting (was) called to respond to a wave of controversy swirling around the state's largest hospital.
...
Fletcher Allen's reputation has suffered multiple hits in recent weeks, including: a fine for beginning construction on a million parking garage without a needed permit; an attempt to organize a nurses' union; and a state order to cease installation of million in software that the hospital has no permit for.
A former hospital executive subpoenaed by the state testified that CEO Boettcher intentionally skirted state law to push through the garage deal without regulatory oversight. ...
The committee will investigate how the garage deal transpired without a state permit and any other hospital instances of flouting state regulations, McCarren said. They will have full access to information they need to complete the investigation, she said.
2002-08-03: Federal and State Prosecutors will Investigate
Fletcher Allen Health Care. Vermont's top prosecutor will join forces with the U.S. Attorney to look into whether Fletcher Allen Health Care broke any state or federal laws.
Attorney General Bill Sorrell said today, "We have questions...Who knew what? When? Who participated in the decisions? Who gave the okay to follow this course?"
A former executive told regulators in April that Fletcher Allen CEO Bill Boettcher deliberately hid the cost of 55 million dollar parking garage from state regulators and the public.
Board Trustee Louise McCarren is leading an internal investigation. She says the board welcomes both entities to conduct investigations. The Board placed Boettcher on paid leave Wednesday.
... new allegations surfaced last week.
Click here to read more.
2002-08-07: Fletcher Allen's legal troubles could lead
to financial troubles. Standard and Poor's Rating Agency has placed Vermont's largest hospital on a credit watch with negative implications. That means Fletcher Allen's credit rating may be lowered.
The watch comes in light of federal and state investigations into whether the hospital broke any laws over a proposed parking garage.
Currently Fletcher Allen has an 'A-' rating. That gave the hospital low interest rates on the bonds funding most of the hospital's expansion. -- end --
2002-08-08: Vermont Hospital regulators are unsure
of FAHC's credibility. A panel appointed to review hospital spending will have trouble believing Fletcher Allen Health Care's statements during its upcoming budget review because of recent controversy at the hospital, panel members said Wednesday.
Fletcher Allen ran afoul of regulators several times in recent months, casting a cloud on the hospital's credibility. The hospital began two projects without applying for state permits. State and federal prosecutors are investigating allegations of wrongdoing by Fletcher Allen management.
State regulators said the news has prompted them to look differently at the upcoming review of Fletcher Allen's million-plus budget. Regulators have asked members of Fletcher Allen's board of trustees for assurance that the hospital's statements about the budget will be accurate, said Susan Gretkowski, deputy commissioner of the Vermont Department of Banking, Insurance, Securities and Health Care Administration.
2002-08-17: The CEO of Vermont’s largest hospital
has resigned, hospital board members announced Monday.
Fletcher Allen Health Care’s board of trustees accepted the letter of resignation from William Boettcher late Friday. The board placed him on leave on July 31, as allegations emerged that management deliberately misled state regulators, and federal and state prosecutors launched investigations into hospital affairs.
Boettcher, reached at his home Monday, said he did what he thought was best for the hospital. Fletcher Allen needs leadership while the investigations drag on, he said.
Boettcher’s resignation severs his ties with all Fletcher Allen entities, hospital board Chairman Philip Drumheller said Monday. Boettcher leaves with a ,000 retirement package.
Boettcher, 55, has been at the epicenter of months of controversy that have clouded the Burlington hospital’s reputation. State and federal prosecutors are investigating hospital affairs.
Click here to read more.
2002-08-26: State auditor is questioning F.A.H.C. bond
spending. Vermont State Auditor Elizabeth Ready, in a letter last week to the state agency that issues tax-exempt bonds, questioned whether Fletcher Allen Health Care is following regulations in how it is spending some of its million in bond money.
The hospital is in the middle of nearly million in construction projects in Burlington. The bonds were sold to help pay for cost of parts of those projects.
Fletcher Allen, the state's largest hospital, is using the bond money appropriately, Interim Chief Financial Officer Ken Fisher said in an interview last week regarding Ready's letter.
Ready's questions come as Fletcher Allen grapples with allegations that management deliberately skirted state law to begin construction of an underground parking garage. The Vermont attorney general and the U.S. attorney are investigating the hospital's actions.
Questions linger about the bonds and the project which has more than doubled in cost since its conception.
2002-08-29: State regulators reviewing F.A.H.C.s
million budget Thursday will have more than the numbers on their mind.
Fletcher Allen is mired in controversies that have shaken the faith of those people the hospital hopes will approve its 2003 budget. Evidence emerged in recent months alleging the Burlington hospital might have been less than honest with these regulators.
Members of the Public Oversight Commission -- charged with reviewing Vermont hospitals' budgets -- said they can't help but wonder whether the figures Fletcher Allen provides will tell the whole story. The seven-member panel will ask more questions. Commissioners will try not to let the hospital's management troubles get in the way of their duty to Vermont patients.
The hospital last week issued a statement saying it is working with regulators to restore trust and ensure the budget proceedings go smoothly.
2002-08-30: Chief Operating Officer Thad Krupka began
his presentation to state hospital budget regulators Thursday with an apology.
... The situation to which Krupka referred includes a chief executive on administrative leave, questions about whether a million parking garage and a million computer system were properly purchased, and three separate investigations of Fletcher Allen's conduct now under way.
"Yes, there is controversy," Krupka said, "but it is our responsibility to put that aside and address this budget."
The panel appeared divided on whether to grant his request. In a hearing that ran nearly four hours, commission members mostly delved into budget details. Some members also wanted to address what they called the hospital's damaged credibility.
The hearing was Fletcher Allen's day to explain its financial plan for next year. The hospital is seeking approval of million in spending, including a rate increase of 3.5 percent.
However, many non-budgetary issues came up during the session.
2002-09-16: Just six weeks after being placed
on administrative leave, Fletcher allen's Chief Executivce Officer Bill Boettcher has stepped down. The announcement was made Monday by Philip Drumheller - chairman of the trustees. He said that the trustees deemed it in the best interest of the hospital.
Boettcher told Brian Joyce that he too thought it best to move on. Boettcher did deny that he had done anything wrong. He said there was no effort to mislead state regulators, as was charged by the former financial officer David Cox. Boettcher said neither he nor the executive committee of the trustees, nor anyone else at the hospital has willfully mislead state health care regulators.
Click here to read more.
2002-09-19: U.S. Rep. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. on Wednesday
called for a federal investigation into a ,000 retirement package offered by Fletcher Allen Health Care to William Boettcher.
Boettcher resigned Friday from his position as chief executive officer of Vermont's largest hospital. The hospital's board had placed him on leave July 31 after allegations that management had deliberately misled Vermont regulators.
Sanders said Wednesday it is absurd to spend ,000 in health care dollars on Boettcher's retirement package while Vermont experiences soaring insurance rates and a major nursing shortage.
Sanders sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson asking for an investigation into the retirement package.
Fletcher Allen officials said this week that the retirement package is part of Boettcher's contract with the hospital.
-- From staff, wire reports
2002-10-04: Only 3 months ago, Edwin Colodny was honored
by the trustees of the University of Vermont. He served as interim president for one year through turbulent times at UVM,... while the board searched for a permanent leader.
This morning ... deja vu .
"We have several crucial issues here at the university... excuse me the hospital"...said Edwin Colodny. As the audience laughed, he added: "we had crucial issues there too".
Colodny will be the interim Chief Executive Officer of Fletcher Allen Health Care -- until the board finds the hospital's next C-E-O. Former Chief Executive Bill Boettcher resigned last month amid allegations -- and investigations -- over potential wrongdoing by hospital management.
... The Burlington native has a long career of leading organizations .. including 35 years as the head of US Airways. ...
Drumheller says the board will look nationally for a new CEO. Colodny does not want the job for more than an interim period....
Click here to read more.
2002-10-11: Nearly halfway through construction
of its mammoth Renaissance Project, Fletcher Allen Health Care hasn't filed an update with Vermont regulators on the hospital's progress in 12 months.
The reports are meant to keep regulators a- breast of changes to projects requiring permits from the Vermont Department of Banking, Insurance, Securities and Health Care Administration.
Last time Fletcher Allen filed an update with the state, the Renaissance Project had changed significantly from what its permit covered. That report was dated October 2001. State regulators have yet to rule on those changes nor has Fletcher Allen filed any further construction updates.
The state permit requires that the hospital file progress reports every six months "after the initial bidding process is completed."
2002-10-12: F.A.H.C.'s newly appointed interim C.E.O.
has started cleaning house.
Edwin Colodny has named Burlington lawyer Spencer Knapp, president and managing partner of Dinse Knapp & McAndrew, the hospital's acting general counsel. Part of Knapp's job will be taking over the role formerly played by the state's largest law firm, Downs Rachlin Martin, led by attorney Allen Martin, Fletcher Allen spokeswoman Maria McClellan said.
Knapp will handle the hospital's relations with state regulators in the Vermont Department of Banking, Insurance, Securities and Health Care Administration, McClellan said. David Sylvester, an attorney with Downs Rachlin Martin, will continue to work on regulatory issues under Knapp.
Colodny also named Theresa DiPalma, a former Health Care Administration employee, as a special adviser.
2002-10-14: The huge expansion at F.A.H.C. is again making
waves with Vermont regulators. The state health care commissioner says the project is running million over budget and suggests it may have to be scaled back. The expansion, called the Renaissance Project, was approved by the state with a million price tag. Then came the parking garage -- another -million. Now an additional million in costs -- putting the project at million. State Health Care Commissioner Elizabeth Costle has written to the hospital demanding to know why the project is costing so much. In it, she says the hospital knew of the overruns before applying for state permission to go forward with the project. Costle adds that Fletcher Allen needs to review the costs and priorities to concentrate on patient care not bricks and mortar. ... Hospital officials tell Channel 3 newly appointed CEO Ed Colodny is making the Commissioner's concerns his top priority. And he's developed a plan of action to find out the true cost and scope of the project.
Click here to read more.
2002-10-15: Fletcher Allen Health Care's massive expansion
is running nearly million over the cost approved by the state, according to Vermont's top health care regulator.
Elizabeth Costle, commissioner of Vermont's Department of Banking, Insurance, Securities and Health Care Administration, has asked the Burlington hospital to slow work on the project. She said Monday that even after Fletcher Allen management met with regulators in late September and informed the state of the changes, the hospital's story does not add up.
Costle said she wants the hospital to reassess the size of the expansion and scale it down to match the originally projected price tag of .4 million.
She estimated project costs are now hovering about .3 million. She based that figure on .3 million in cost overruns and a million parking garage that has a permit, but was not included in the original projections.
Click here to read more.
2002-11-08: Elizabeth R. Costle, Vermont's Commissioner
of the Department of Banking, Insurance, Securities and Healthcare Administration said today that Fletcher Allen Health Care's
Interim CEO Edwin I. Colodny has confirmed to her that the true cost of the so-called Renaissance Project is more than million, not .4 million. Commissioner Costle said today that it appears that there was a plan by Fletcher Allen Health Care management to extensively and deliberately withhold information from the Department, the Public Oversight Commission, and the public about the true costs of its major construction project. While welcoming the candor and openness of Fletcher Allen's Interim CEO, Commissioner Costle made it clear to Fletcher Allen Health Care in a letter this morning that the "apparent pattern of deceit and efforts by Fletcher Allen management to conceal this cost from the public, from the Public Oversight Commission, and from this Department is an affront to the people of Vermont and their government."
Click here to read more.
2002-11-08: In our recent discussions, we have presented
an evolving picture of hidden capital expenditures related to the so-called Renaissance Project, expenditures which are likely to be close to million. None of these expenditures, many of them already incurred, were presented to the Department for Certificate of Need review. While you have indicated that the numbers are not final - and may change somewhat - these expenditures, together with a million garage debt
previously concealed and the million approved in the March 2001 CON, bring the true cost of the project to more than million. The apparent pattern of deceit and efforts by Fletcher Allen management to conceal this cost from the public, from the Public Oversight Commission, and from this Department is an affront to the people of Vermont and their government.
Click here to read more.
2002-11-08: Interim CEO Ed Colodny today released
new information about the hospital's renovation and expansion project. The true cost of the construction totals 326 million dollars, nearly triple what Fletcher Allen first told the state and the public. It's the latest example of recent decisions by the administration to hide financial information about the project.
Regulators originally approved 120 million dollars for the so-called Renaissance Project. Then the hospital wanted 50 million more for other related projects which regulators also approved, unaware the project was really much more.
Earlier this year, the state discovered the parking garage bringing the total to 255 million. And now, we learn the cost all along was 326 million dollars. Almost half of that -- deliberately hidden from the public.
Today, Colodny apologized for the deceit.
... Colodny would not point a finger at anyone because the Board of Trustees is investigating who is responsible.
Click here to read more.
2002-11-09: FAHC’s massive expansion has nearly doubled
in cost to million, with the disclosure Friday by Interim Chief Executive Officer Edwin Colodny that hospital management deliberately hid another .3 million from state regulators. The revelation is the latest admission by the hospital that the expansion has ballooned in price.
The disclosure angered state regulators, who ordered Fletcher Allen to apply for renewed state approval. The project has grown in the past six months to million above what the state initially said the hospital could spend. Colodny said Friday’s disclosure, which included other expenses for a total of million, came after a detailed accounting of project costs.
Fletcher Allen will trim project costs and delay or eliminate future projects to make up the expense, Colodny said. Vermont consumers will pick up some of the tab, a medical policy analyst predicted.
The apparent pattern of deceit and efforts by Fletcher Allen management to conceal this cost from the public,
Click here to read more.
2002-11-12: FAHC’s admission that it has tacked million
onto its massive expansion has spurred lawmakers to contemplate changing how the state oversees hospital spending.
With two months to go before the January start of the legislative session, suggestions abound for refining state hospital review. The proposals include requiring public meetings of hospital trustees, breaking up the state permitting process and mandating that hospital managers present projects under oath.
The Vermont Department of Banking, Insurance, Securities and Health Care Administration grants permits called certificates of need based on the merits of hospital projects the department reviews. The ballooning costs at Fletcher Allen have lawmakers wondering whether the Burlington hospital’s situation is an exception to an otherwise good regulatory system or whether that system is in crisis.
Click here to read more.
2002-11-15: Committee report
(PDF File)
Click here to read more.
2002-11-16: The Securities and Exchange Commission has
asked for documents linked to three major Fletcher Allen Health Care projects, adding to the number of agencies examining the hospital's massive expansion.
The SEC requested information in connection with the hospital's million bond issue in 2000, its million parking garage project and a now-scrapped plan to install more than million in IDX software, according to a letter from the federal agency to Fletcher Allen. The request is another blow to the hospital, under investigation by state and federal prosecutors and in the process of an internal investigation connected to its flagship Renaissance Project.
Documents obtained Friday from Fletcher Allen show the SEC in August launched an "informal inquiry" into Vermont's largest hospital. Fletcher Allen Acting General Counsel Spencer Knapp emphasized Friday the SEC request was for voluntary information.
The SEC is charged with protecting investors and overseeing securities markets, such as stocks and bonds.
Click here to read more.
2002-11-19: A special investigating committee will release
its report on the controversy at Fletcher Allen Health Care Wednesday. This summer, a group of Fletcher Allen trustees launched an internal investigation after the public learned hospital management hid millions from regulators, consumers and trustees.
It all centers around the Renaissance construction project. Regulators had only approved million for the expansion, when really the project was million. The CEO resigned in September, but there are still questions about who else is responsible.
...
Sources on the board of trustees tell Channel 3 News the committee report concludes the board was deliberately and systematically misled by senior managers on the extent of the renaissance project. The trustees were also not adequately served by consultants, lawyers and accountants. And the report finds that the board just missed too much critical information and must share in the blame for the problems with the Renaissance project.
Click here to read more.
2002-11-20: Bernie Sanders held a press conference
today urging that the Board of Trustees at Fletcher Allen Health Care be fundamentally restructured. Sanders said, "Given the huge amount of taxpayer dollars that Fletcher Allen consumes, this institution must become more open, more democratic and more accountable to the people of Vermont.”
Fletcher Allen Health Care is the largest health care provider in Vermont with a budget of over million and consumes about 25% of the health care dollars in Vermont. Fletcher Allen receives over 35% of its total revenues -over million- in tax dollars from the federal and state government in Medicare and Medicaid payments.
The Hospital is currently in the midst of a major crisis because it failed to gain approval for the full scope of its massive Renaissance Project, in which over million was apparently deliberately hidden from state regulators.
2002-11-20: FAHCs Board of Trustees took full responsibility
Wednesday for the financial fiasco that's plagued the hospital. Earlier this year allegations surfaced that senior managers deliberately hid the true cost of Fletcher Allen's expansion project. Regulators gave approval for the project's million price tag when the real cost is million.
A group of board members released the findings of an internal review Wednesday. The report shows how top managers, led by former CEO Bill Boettcher, systematically kept information from trustees, state regulators and the public. The review also blames the board for not paying close enough attention to what hospital executives were doing.
As a result of the report, hospital will implement changes to improve the level of review by the board. Also, two top managers who worked closely with Boettcher will resign. The new hospital management will scale back its relationship with its current law firm, Downs, Rachlin and Martin.
Click here to read more.
2002-11-20: Let me begin by applauding Interim President Ed
Colodny for beginning the process of explaining to the people of Vermont the true dimensions of the problems facing Fletcher Allen. I gather more revelations will be made this morning. I met with Ed recently to discuss these issues and look forward to working with him in the coming months.
I have distributed a longer statement for your perusal, but let me focus no on just four points.
As to who should be held accountable for this fiasco, there is clearly plenty of blame to go around. Former CEO Bill Boettcher, his advisors and the decision-makers on his staff obviously bear much of the responsibility. As importantly, the current Board of Trustees, which has a duty to oversee the activities of Mr. Boettcher, must accept their share of the responsibility. Finally, state government, which is supposed to protect the interest of the public, provided inexcusably weak oversight.
2002-11-20: Vermont Governor-elect Jim Douglas
said Fletcher Allen trustees have taken one step in restoring the public's trust by accepting part of the blame for the hospital's expansion scandal. "We need to restore the public's trust in this vital community institution", said the incoming Governor Wednesday at his weekly news conference.
Governor Howard Dean referred to the top managers as "crooks" but Douglas wasn't ready to go that far. "We do not know yet. There are investigations underway..there is a statue to make it a crime to lie to state investigators...so I am sure at some point we will learn the outcome of that investigation", said Douglas just two hours after the trustees report was released at a Burlington news conference.
Douglas said he'll ask his administration to review the state's role in the scandal. Regulators approved million in renovations. But the cost ballooned to million. "I think it is premature to conclude whether there is any error made by the regulators but I want to find out,"
Click here to read more.
2002-11-20: Two more executives are leaving Fletcher Allen
in the wake of problems with the hospital's multi-million-dollar expansion.
The hospital's interim chief executive says chief operating officer Thad Krupka and senior vice president David Demers will be leaving by mutual agreement.
Additionally, the trustees chairman will be leaving the board next month as part of a routine rotation and five other trustees whose terms expire next month may be replaced.
Already, former hospital chief executive William Boettcher has left under pressure and its staff lawyer resigned in September.
Fletcher Allen also says it is ending its relationship with Burlington law firm Downs Rachlin and Martin.
Wednesday, 11/20/02
2002-11-21: FAHC’s top management systematically
stonewalled the hospital’s board and state regulators to keep a massive expansion on track and free of additional scrutiny, according to an internal report released Wednesday.
The 72-page report was a scathing indictment of a management culture bent on secrecy and deception, of a board that failed to aggressively question management and carry out its duties as public trustees, and of legal advisers who continually looked for ways around hospital regulations.
The report, released by board Chairman Philip Drumheller and interim Chief Executive Officer Edwin Colodny, opened a window on two years’ worth of corporate misdeeds that promise to further tarnish the reputation of the state’s largest hospital.
Click here to read more.
2002-11-21: It was business as usual Thursday
at the Champlain Valley's largest hospital, despite the release of a scathing report critical of the hospital's management.
While the scandal has been unfolding for months, the happenings inside the executive offices do not appear to be having much effect on the rest of the hospital.
Approximately 6,000 people work for Fletcher Allen Health Care, and while some said Thursday that they dislike what has happened, many also said politics is not their concern.
... Nurse Nickie Powers said she is too busy to read the front pages of the newspapers, which detail the latest revelations about the hospital. ... On Wednesday, Fletcher Allen's chairman apologized to his employees and to the community after a report outlined how his former CEO led a campaign to cover up the true cost of the massive expansion under way. ... The one complaint voiced by many employees Thursday was the lack of nurses.
Click here to read more.
2002-11-21: Trustees at FAHC said Wednesday that they
accept responsibility for the scandal at the Burlington hospital, though they don't know what they could have done to prevent what happened.
... The report issued Wednesday that examined how the hospital ran afoul of state regulators with its million expansion project detailed an atmosphere in which Fletcher Allen administrators -- specifically former Chief Executive Officer William Boettcher -- intentionally kept key details about the Renaissance Project from trustees and the state Department of Banking, Insurance, Securities and Health Care Administration.
... Trustees said Wednesday that they are angered and embarrassed that the scandal happened on their watch. Gerry Gossens, a trustee and Democratic state senator from Addison County, said the board was "surrounded by a wall of silence."
The report criticizes the unpaid, volunteer trustees for failing to insist on information that administrators should have provided,
Click here to read more.
2002-11-22: Vermont Attorney General Bill Sorrell
met with U.S. attorney office in Burlington for nearly four-and-a-half hours Friday, about the joint criminal investigation into Fletcher Allen's Renaissance Project scandal.
Presumably, many things were discussed, but neither Sorrell or the U.S. attorney's office had much to say -- at least publicly -- leaving speculation to rule the moment.
"Was this a case of somebody lining their own pocket?" asked Fletcher Allen interim C.E.O. Ed Colodny on Wednesday. "No."
Colodny says he's uncertain whether charges would or should be filed, saying it's a matter for others.
"This is a case of bad management, misjudgments, poor judgments, and in my opinion, the buck goes to the top where it starts," Colodny said. "That's what happened here in my opinion."
But should Fletcher Allen's board, which says it accepts full responsibility, be included in the investigation?
"If criminal charges are filed?" asked Board Chair Philip Drumheller. "I don't believe so, no."
Click here to read more.
2002-11-22: F.A.H.C.’s mistakes are mounting,
and Vermont’s largest hospital will pay dearly for cleaning up after the wave of scandals washing over its massive expansion.
Already, the 19- month-old project includes nearly million in hidden costs, which Vermonters will pay for in part through higher health care prices. Now, the months of legal battles, investigations and public scrutiny mean Fletcher Allen could spend millions more on the fallout from its beleaguered project.
The hospital faces application fees for new state and city permits because of changes in the cost and design of the project. An anticipated drop in Fletcher Allen’s credit rating could trigger higher interest rates. The departure of most of the hospital’s top management will require a search for replacements. The hospital has already paid a large fine for deliberately skirting state law.
How much the fiasco costs Fletcher Allen might be clearer next year when the hospital releases its income tax return for 2002.
Click here to read more.
2002-11-25: If Fletcher Allen Health Care has a Siamese twin,
it is the University of Vermont’s medical school.
Like worried siblings, College of Medicine officials say they are concerned about the hospital’s financial and legal problems. Administrators and faculty also say their work continues unaffected by the problems next door.
"There’s the business of health care and there’s the mission of care we need to deliver,’’ said Dr. Lewis First, professor and chairman of pediatrics at the medical school. ‘‘Those of us who provide care are unwavering in our mission.’’
"Our quality of care and interest in providing care is not tainted in the slightest,’’ echoed Dr. Hyman Muss, a professor of medicine.
If the controversy drags on, however, officials across the school said it could raise problems ranging from buying needed equipment to recruiting faculty leaders.
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2002-12-03: Fletcher Allen Health Care on Monday
turned over to the state 27 binders of invoices detailing the hospital’s spending to date on a million expansion at the Burlington medical center. The hospital misspent more than million from a state-authorized, tax-exempt bond, but has since refunded the money, Fletcher Allen Treasury Director Roderick Whitney wrote in a letter to Malcolm Rode, executive director of the Vermont Educational and Health Buildings Financing Agency. Rode’s office authorizes tax-exempt bond issues for certain Vermont organizations. He also approves how Fletcher Allen spends its bond proceeds. Vermont Auditor Elizabeth Ready had asked Fletcher Allen for the information, saying the hospital failed, in some cases, to meet standards for verifying how it uses bond money. The invoices produced Monday are intended to answer that question. They provide a penny-by-penny account of the million of bond proceeds spent so far on the hospital’s massive expansion, which has drawn fire for hidden costs
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2002-12-03: One thick binder notebook after another stands
as evidence in Montpelier that Fletcher Allen Health Care misused more than million in state-approved bonds.
"What we have here is an over-reliance on self-reporting," said State Auditor Elizabeth Ready, who characterized the system that oversees the release of these tax-free dollars as flawed.
The result?
Fletcher Allen used some of that money on its parking garage, which is a for-profit project financed by a third party.
"Obviously, there have been some problems with these invoices," Ready said. "These problems are now going to come under some scrutiny. These problems are now going to be cleaned up."
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2002-12-05: Calling Fletcher Allen Health Care an ‘‘elitist
institution,’’ Rep. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said Wednesday it’s high time the hospital gets a piece of the public’s mind.
The hospital soaks up close to 25 percent of state health care dollars, Sanders said, and therefore should be listening to what Vermonters think is the best use of that money.
Sanders and several public interest groups are holding a town meeting Tuesday as a public discussion on Fletcher Allen’s troubles. The hospital spends public money and should be accountable to the Vermonters paying the bills, Sanders and others said Wednesday.
’’These are health care dollars,’’ Sanders said of the million in construction under way on the Burlington medical campus. The project drew fire when hospital management revealed nearly million in hidden costs. State and federal prosecutors are investigating the project.
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2002-12-10: F.A.H.C.'s board of trustees will accept
up to a half dozen appointments to its board this week and elect a new chairman as the board faces continued pressure to clean house for failing to properly oversee the mammoth expansion under way at the Burlington hospital campus.
Tonight, Rep. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., holds a public town meeting on the scandal surrounding the hospital, which has included the departure of its senior managers and several criminal investigations. Sanders has called for the resignation of all 18 Fletcher Allen board members, saying the board fails to represent a cross-section of Vermonters who rely on the hospital for affordable, quality health care.
Hospital trustees are under the microscope after an internal investigation found the board failed to aggressively oversee the hospital's management. The investigation yielded a report, released last month, that was a scathing indictment of hospital management.
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2002-12-10: Fletcher Allen Health Care is facing state
and federal investigations for its expansion project. Millions of dollars in costs were apparently hidden from regulators and the public. Many lay blame on former CEO Bill Boettcher. He allegedly orchestrated a deliberate scheme to keep the project's costs secret.
Bill Boettcher was introduced to the public in 1998. With a background in health care management, Boettcher was just what the doctor ordered for the hospital's financial troubles and lack of leadership.
Dick Mallary, former chair of Fletcher Allen board of trustees, says Bill Boettcher was the group's first choice. Mallary was heard of the search committee and says he viewed Boettcher very favorably.
... Boettcher's first order of business was to dig Fletcher Allen out from a financial hole and move forward with a long planned expansion. Boettcher launched the "Renaissance Project". He first appeared before state regulators in 1999. In 2001, they approved the project with a price tag of million.
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2002-12-12: After months of scandal and cost over-runs,
Vermont's largest hospital is turning a corner. Fletcher Allen Health Care's Board of Trustees met to choose a new leader Thursday.
The new board chair is Louise McCarren. She replaces Philip Drumheller, whose term expired.
The Fletcher Allen trustees have been under fire in the wake of the scandal surrounding the huge hospital expansion. Critics say the board should have kept closer tabs on hospital administrators who hid the true cost of the project.
Former Independent candidate for Governor Con Hogan was appointed to the board, along with Elizabeth Robert, President of Vermont Teddybear; William Shubart, President of Resolution, and Dr. Wendy Davis, a pediatrician at Fletcher Allen.
The board hopes the change in leadership will mark a new beginning for Fletcher Allen, in the wake of sticker shock over the huge expansion project and revelations that have shaken public confidence in the state's largest hospital.
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2002-12-12: Many lay blame for what went wrong at F.A.H.C.
at the top. Senior managers withholding information... board trustees not asking enough questions. But some say part of the blame rests with the regulators themselves. Why didn't they catch the cover-up sooner and prevent what went wrong?
Governor Howard Dean says it was because they were not from Vermont. "I think you have a bunch of people with a corporate culture that said it was all right to lie to regulators come to Vermont where it's not all right and I think our regulators were not prepared for that."
Not prepared because the people who analyze the data depend on hospitals telling the truth. State employees analyze requests for a C.O.N, a certificate of need. If you run a hospital and want to buy or build anything that costs over one and a half million dollars you need a C.O.N. Fletcher Allen was approved to spend million for its Renaissance Project. But senior managers at the hospital were apparently concealing the true cost, million.
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2002-12-13: All this week, we've shown you what went
wrong with an expansion at Fletcher Allen Health Care, from the corporate executives to the embattled Board of Trustees. Now a look at how the Renaissance Project affects you.
Fletcher Allen Health Care is embarking on a new era. When construction is done, the old University Health Center will be out and the new and improved ambulatory care center will be in. The hospitals says the new digs will streamline care, improve access for patients and update facilities for doctors. The cost will be million, a tab Vermonters across the state will have to pick up.
... A big bill that will continue to cost Vermonters even after the building is built and paid for. A bigger and more efficient facility allows doctors to treat more patients which will lead to higher health care costs.
... And Channel Three News has learned that five percent of the each doctor's salary is tied to how much work they do.
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2002-12-13: One doctor, one former gubernatorial candidate
and two chief executive officers will join the Fletcher Allen Health Care board of trustees as the 18-member panel remains under scrutiny for its role in a scandal consuming the Burlington hospital.
Dr. Wendy Davis, a Fletcher Allen pediatrician, was nominated by the University Health Center, said hospital trustee Dr. James Hebert.
Former Agency of Human Services Secretary Cornelius "Con" Hogan, who ran as an independent for governor in November, will join the board as the nomination from Fanny Allen Corp., said Sister Irene Duchesneau, chairwoman of the Catholic institution.
Elisabeth Robert, president and CEO of Shelburne-based Vermont Teddy Bear Co., and William Schubart, chairman and CEO of South Burlington's Resolution Inc., were appointed by the Vermont Health Foundation, said Penrose Jackson, who heads the foundation.
Trustees elected Louise McCarren as chairwoman to replace Philip Drumheller, a trustee since 1995 whose term has expired.
Click here to read more.
2002-12-14: The University of Vermont on Friday appointed the head
of the nursing school to the Fletcher Allen Health Care board of trustees.
Betty Rambur, dean of the UVM College of Nursing and Health Sciences, will take her seat on the 18-member panel in January. She said she looks forward to helping rehabilitate Fletcher Allen.
The hospital has fought a tarnished public image since allegations surfaced that hospital managers lied to state regulators about the cost of a million expansion under way on the Burlington campus.
... Rambur is one of six trustees to begin membership on the Fletcher Allen board in January. Five were named Thursday. The Vermont Health Foundation still must nominate the sixth.
Rambur joins new trustees Wendy Davis, a Fletcher Allen pediatrician; Cornelius "Con" Hogan, a consultant and former gubernatorial candidate; Elisabeth Robert, head of Vermont Teddy Bear Co.; and William Schubart, chairman and chief executive officer of Resolution Inc.
2002-12-14: U.V.M. on Friday appointed the head
of nursing school to the Fletcher Allen Health Care board of trustees.
Betty Rambur, dean of the UVM College of Nursing and Health Sciences, will take her seat on the 18-member panel in January. She said she looks forward to helping rehabilitate Fletcher Allen.
The hospital has fought a tarnished public image since allegations surfaced that hospital managers lied to state regulators about the cost of a million expansion under way on the Burlington campus.
"I really feel a sense of commitment to the public,’’ Rambur said Friday.
Rambur has been dean of the nursing school since 2000. She formerly headed nursing programs at the University of Mary in Bismarck, N.D.
The UVM committee that nominates Fletcher Allen trustees met Friday afternoon. Four parent organizations, including UVM, select the hospital’s board members. The others are the Vermont Health Foundation, Fanny Allen Corp. and the University Health Center.
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2002-12-18: Henry “Sam” Chauncey Jr. was appointed
Tuesday as the sixth and final new member of the Fletcher Allen Health Care board of trustees.
Chauncey, a retired health care administrator and current Andover Selectboard member, worked in and around Yale University, his alma mater, for most of the past 45 years.
He served on the Yale New Haven Hospital board of trustees for 15 years and most recently ran a program for graduate students seeking training in health management. He was the chief executive officer of Gaylord Hospital, an acute rehabilitation center in Wallingford, Conn., from 1988 to 1994.
Chauncey’s father, who died Dec. 3, was the founder of Educational Testing Service, which oversees the SAT college entrance examinations.
Chauncey has been a member of the University of Vermont College of Medicine’s Dean’s Council since 2001. He serves as an adviser to Medical College Dean Joseph Warshaw also a Fletcher Allen trustee providing guidance in everything from curriculum to planning, Chauncey said.
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2002-12-21: F.A.H.C.’s ever-expanding construction
project has ballooned once again, this time to about million, according to state regulators.
Vermont regulators hired a Seattle architectural firm to review the hospital’s building plans and determine whether costs could be trimmed, said Elizabeth Costle, commissioner of the state Department of Banking, Insurance, Securities and Health Care Administration.
The firm, named NBBJ, had consultants in Burlington this week reviewing the Fletcher Allen expansion, called the Renaissance Project. The consultants told Costle’s office Friday that their estimates put the project at million more than the most recently stated price. The million does not include the hospital’s .5 million plan for a psychiatric ward that is integral to the project.
Fletcher Allen has not had the chance to review NBBJ’s numbers, spokesman Mike Noble said Friday. The hospital continues to review costs, he said.
Click here to read more.
2002-12-28: Fletcher Allen hid truth about project cost.
By 9 a.m. Dec. 14, 2000, the conference room at the Capitol Plaza hotel in Montpelier was packed. Heavy snow the night before had not deterred the assembly of state regulators, Fletcher Allen Health Care executives in dark suits and onlookers who had come for a second day of hearings on one of the largest construction projects ever proposed in Vermont.
Fletcher Allen executives presented the Renaissance Project, an expansion they said would revitalize the aging hospital, Vermont's largest.
Members of the state commission that reviews hospital projects were enthusiastic. Commissioner Joe Blanchette called the project the "most thoroughly examined and scrutinized proposal" to undergo state oversight in a decade.
It was evident Fletcher Allen would win approval to spend .4 million on a new outpatient center, an expanded emergency department, an upgraded birthing center and an education center to link the hospital to the University of Vermont.
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2002-12-29: Anatomy of the Renaissance Project Scandal
-- Fletcher Allen executives presented the Renaissance Project, an expansion they said would revitalize the aging hospital, Vermont's largest.
Members of the state commission that reviews hospital projects were enthusiastic. Commissioner Joe Blanchette called the project the "most thoroughly examined and scrutinized proposal" to undergo state oversight in a decade.
It was evident Fletcher Allen would win approval to spend .4 million on a new outpatient center, an expanded emergency department, an upgraded birthing center and an education center to link the hospital to the University of Vermont.
... Two years later, the hospital is under investigation by state and federal prosecutors. Its top executives are gone and its board is under fire. The cost of the project has doubled, and the state's regulatory process is under scrutiny.
Click here to read more.
2003-01-08: Rep. Bernie Sanders, has formed a task force
that unites Vermont legislators with doctors, union representatives and others to target perceived problems with the board of trustees governing Fletcher Allen Health Care.
The task force is intended to keep reforming the hospital on the front burner, Sanders said Tuesday. He and former Vermont Gov. Philip Hoff on Tuesday addressed a letter to Fletcher Allen's Interim Chief Executive Officer Edwin Colodny, Chairwoman Louise McCarren and the hospital's four parent companies suggesting three changes to how the board of trustees functions.
The board of the state's largest hospital, awash in controversy, should open its meetings to the public, restructure how trustees are appointed to better represent patients, and eliminate conflicts of interest on the board, Sanders and Hoff wrote in the letter.
Fletcher Allen has had ''substantive'' discussions with Sanders, and trustees next week will name a committee to consider proposed changes to how the board operates, Colodny said....
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2003-01-09: F.A.H.C. named an interim CEO Wednesday.
John K. Evans, a University of Vermont graduate and longtime hospital administrator, starts Monday. Evans, 47, takes over from Thad Krupka, who stepped down in December in the wake of the scandal at the Burlington hospital.
Fletcher Allen has tweaked the role the chief operating officer will play at the institution. The incoming COO will not have oversight of Fletcher Allen's massive construction project called the Renaissance Project. Krupka oversaw the expansion, which is expected to cost the hospital more than million.
Interim Chief Executive Officer Edwin Colodny now oversees the project. Evans, who will earn ,000 annually and a housing allowance, will report directly to Colodny.
Evans will have charge of day-to-day operations at Fletcher Allen. That includes managing supplies, laboratory, housekeeping, parking, security and other services.
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2003-01-15: Fletcher Allen Health Care's massive expansion
is vital to Vermont's economic health despite the controversy surrounding it, Interim Chief Executive Officer Edwin Colodny told hospital board members Tuesday in a vehement defense of the medical center and its project.
Colodny's words came during the two-hour public portion of Fletcher Allen's first board meeting of 2003. He struck out at critics who want the board overhauled and who have questioned whether the hospital really needs to spend at least million for the expansion. The project has sparked criminal investigations, maligned Fletcher Allen's reputation and brought a barrage of criticism upon the hospital.
Health care policy analyst Jeanne Keller, president of Keller & Fuller Inc., asked trustees whether Vermonters could afford a ''world-class'' medical center using the moniker hospital insiders have applied to Fletcher Allen. Perhaps Vermont could make do with a hospital that provides quality health care without spending millions, she told trustees Tuesday.
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2003-01-28: This time when Rep. Bernie Sanders called
on the state's largest hospital to open its doors to public involvement, three of the medical center's top representatives were at the table. Literally.
Edwin Colodny, Fletcher Allen Health Care interim chief executive officer; Louise McCarren, chairwoman of the hospital board; and Sister Irene Duchesneau, chairwoman of Fanny Allen Corp., flanked Sanders as he gesticulated, voice rising for emphasis, and demanded change. He directed pointed questions at the Fletcher Allen trio, pressing for answers to whether the hospital will commit to adding members of the public to its board and open trustee meetings for all who care to attend.
The Vermont independent headed the discussion for two hours in his wood-paneled conference room at the top of Church Street, bolstered by nearly a dozen members of the task force he created to bring change to Fletcher Allen.
At the end of the meeting, he said, he did not get the commitment he was after.
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2003-02-01: Fletcher Allen Health Care's massive
expansion is more than it needs to be and was allowed to proceed with no cost controls, according to an independent review of the project.
Fletcher Allen's "obsolete facilities" need rehabilitation and expansion, but the hospital's plan calls for a high-quality building that has pushed costs above normal for similar projects, the Seattle-based architectural firm, NBBJ, found in a report released Friday.
Management failed to rein in costs, encouraged "wish-list" thinking in the project's design, and has planned use and equipment upgrades with little thought to efficiency or budget, the report found.
"The attitude seemed to be 'cost is no issue,''' according to the report.
Fletcher Allen's redevelopment project has been a lightning rod for controversy since revelations six months ago that management kept more than half the project's cost hidden from state regulators and the public. State regulators approved the project at .4 million.
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2003-02-08: F.A.H.C. asked for state permission Friday
to spend an additional .3 million on its massive expansion and make major changes to the project.
The hospital in recent months trimmed million from the plan by scaling back buildings and eliminating equipment purchases.
The expansion - called the Renaissance Project is now expected to cost million. A January estimate had put the price at million, but Fletcher Allen found ways to cut million.
Before submitting Friday's application, Fletcher Allen staff scrutinized the project from every angle in search of ways to cut costs, interim Chief Executive Officer Edwin Colodny said in a Statehouse news conference Friday.
Changes to the plan include adding a mental health unit in a wedge of land between two buildings, lopping off the top of what was to be a decorative tower, downgrading high-quality flourishes that would have graced the interior, cutting medical equipment purchases and eliminating artwork.
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2003-02-13: Gov. Jim Douglas has asked the F.A.H.C.
board of trustees to open itself up to more public involvement and wants nearly a dozen trustees to step down by the end of the year. Douglas laid out a plan for changes to the Fletcher Allen board at a meeting with representatives from the hospital's four parent organizations Wednesday. Trustees have been sorting through the board's role in hospital governance following a recent controversy. This is the first time Douglas has taken action on the issue.
"The institution needs a clean slate,'' Douglas said Wednesday. ''Public confidence has suffered and I want to see Fletcher Allen focus on its mission and not be distracted by the controversy that's been swirling around it for several years.'' Fletcher Allen trustees took heated criticism for failing to rein in former Chief Executive Officer William Boettcher and the escalating costs of its now million expansion. Fletcher Allen Chairwoman Louise McCarren said the board was already looking into possible changes.
Click here to read more.
2003-02-13: The housecleaning continues at F.A.H.C.
in Burlington.
Eight members of the board of trustees announced today they would resign as the hospital continues to deal with a scandal that
stemmed from the financing of a giant expansion project.
Once the trustees have left that will leave only three members who were on the board a year ago.
The hospital is under state and federal investigation after the cost of the project more than doubled to about 365 million dollars.
Yesterday, Governor James Douglas called on the trustees to resign.
But hospital officials say the resignations were not due to pressure from the governor.
Rather, officials decided it would be in the best interest of the hospital.
Thursday, 2/13/03
2003-02-14: Eight F.A.H.C. trustees resigned Thursday
saying it is the only way to move the hospital forward after months of scandal, accusations and outside attempts to force restructuring of the board. The announcement came one day after Gov. Jim Douglas, in a private meeting with hospital representatives, called for the resignation of all but the newest trustees.
Fletcher Allen Chairwoman Louise McCarren said the resignations had little to do with Douglas' demand. Douglas said he was pleased with the outcome and that it ''substantially'' addresses his recommendations.
Rep. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., has demanded since late 2002 that all Fletcher Allen trustees step down. Thursday, he applauded those who resigned for ''putting Fletcher Allen first and for understanding that the people of Vermont want a new beginning at Fletcher Allen.''
The hospital has 18 voting trustees six are new appointees who took their seats in January.
With Thursday's resignations only three trustees will remain who served on the board....
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2003-02-15: Now that eight Fletcher Allen Health Care
trustees have resigned - ridding the board of almost everyone with more than a few months' knowledge of the medical center - the hospital's four parent organizations face the tough task of filling those slots and responding to a public call for more community representation.
Those responsible for selecting Fletcher Allen trustees said although the board will open its doors to a more diverse membership and public involvement, it will have a hard time pleasing hospital critics. They said they are open to suggestions, but will not risk the hospital's mission to meet critics' demands.
"If we need to make choices that are politically unpopular, but yet are in the best interest of the long-term health of the academic medical center ... then so be it," University Health Center Board Chairman Dr. Neil Hyman said.
Fletcher Allen is in a no-win situation, Hyman said, because anyone appointed to the board will automatically become a hospital insider.
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2003-02-21: Bernie Sanders reiterated his call for change
at the state's largest hospital Thursday, telling lawmakers and the governor that Fletcher Allen must diversify its board of trustees.
The board should include health care consumers, hospital employees and elected officials, he said.
"It would not be good enough if we continued with the same governance structure," Sanders, I-Vt., told the House and Senate Health and Welfare committees. "If there ever has been a time to change the governance structure, that time is now."
Eight of the 18 trustees resigned last week after Gov. Jim Douglas demanded sweeping changes to the board that governs the hospital.
Sanders also has called for change. He has held a town meeting and news conferences, and formed a task force to discuss the hospital's future.
Members of that task force Thursday demanded the hospital open its meetings to the public and be reviewed by annual community report cards.
Click here to read more.
2003-02-21: State Auditor Elizabeth Ready on Thursday
called for an attitude shift in state regulation.
Recent troubles at Fletcher Allen Health Care should be a reminder that regulators are supposed to serve the public, not smooth companies' rides through state oversight, Ready told members of the House Health and Welfare Committee.
Ready's office spent months combing receipts that detail how Fletcher Allen spent proceeds from million in tax-exempt bonds issued through the state. She concluded the state could have caught the Burlington hospital's overspending long before the excesses came to light, she told representatives Thursday.
The state's bonding agency a one-man operation called the Vermont Educational and Health Buildings Financing Agency needs to require detailed description of how borrowers spend their money, she said.
Vermont's Department of Banking, Insurance, Securities and Health Care Administration which regulates hospital projects should actively scrutinize health care spending.
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2003-02-22: Fletcher Allen Health Care wants you.
Vermont's largest hospital is seeking applications from anyone interested in serving on its embattled board of trustees. The four organizations that nominate Fletcher Allen's trustees met this week and decided to throw open the board's doors. Nine seats are vacant on the 18-member panel.
Fletcher Allen's four parent organizations had said last week that finding candidates representative of the community who meet the requirements would be difficult through the usual channels. Sending out an all-points bulletin to Vermonters statewide is a drastic change from the cocktail party and Mozart Festival circuit that in the past has produced Fletcher Allen board members.
Vermonters who have expressed interest in serving on the board say they are happy to hear they will be considered. The hospital on Friday announced the decision to seek volunteers. Applications are due March 3.
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2003-02-27: An auditor's review of Fletcher Allen Health Care
found management miscategorized .8 million spent in the past three years, forcing the hospital to tidy up its books.
Pricewaterhouse- Coopers, a global auditing and accounting firm, found the money should have been considered part of Fletcher Allen's million expansion under way on the Burlington campus.
Fixing the problems resulting from the misspending should be relatively simple, hospital Board Chairwoman Louise McCarren said Wednesday.
The money affects the hospital's financial statements and Medicare and Medicaid filings. It does not increase the expansion's cost because the hospital had already factored in the amount Pricewaterhouse found.
Mismanagement of the hospital's expansion called into question its entire financial picture. Fletcher Allen trustees, interim management and state regulators commissioned outside consultants to study every angle of the project, from budgeting to construction materials used.
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2003-03-19: F.A.H.C. trustees approved a policy Tuesday
that defines how the hospital will make sure it complies with state law governing health care spending.
Vermont’s largest hospital had no policy spelled out, resulting in confusion between Fletcher Allen departments, counsel Spencer Knapp said Tuesday. The lack of a clearly enunciated system might have contributed to Fletcher Allen’s running afoul of state regulators while constructing a million expansion, Knapp told trustees at their monthly meeting.
The plan is intended to alert senior management and trustees as early as possible of future projects that might need state approval and encourage the free flow of information between them. It includes steps to define projects early on and verify information included in statements sent to the state. The plan also lays out the role of hospital trustees in approving projects before they are sent to the state.
“Management needs to understand that we have a responsibility and we intend to exercise it,”
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2003-03-27: F.A.H.C.'s million fund-raising campaign
is stalled. Management acknowledges that bad publicity surrounding the hospital's major construction project is the problem.
For at least six months the hospital's campaign has hovered around .6 million. Fletcher Allen had hoped to reach the million goal by September. With million left to go, that is unlikely, Interim Chief Executive Officer Edwin Colodny recently told hospital's board of trustees.
The flow of donations has dried up since allegations surfaced that former employees lied about the cost and scope of the expansion. These allegations prompted drastic changes in the hospital management.
John Marshall, Fletcher Allen's vice president for development, said the news was like a bucket of cold water on a fund-raising drive that had been ahead of schedule. Donors seem to be holding off until the ''storm clouds'' clear and new leadership takes the reins, Marshall said.
Click here to read more.
2003-03-27: Troubles with the funding of F.A.H.C.'s
giant expansion is making it harder for the hospital to raise money.
Hospital officials had hoped to raise 30 million dollars by this September.
But the effort has been stuck at about 20
million for the last six months.
The fund raising effort stalled at about the same time it became public that hospital officials lied to state regulators about the
cost of the expansion project, which has more than doubled to about 356 million dollars.
The hospital's development chief John Marshall says the news was like a bucket of cold water on a fund-raising drive that had been ahead of schedule.
Thursday, 3/27/03
2003-04-12: F.A.H.C. announced Friday the appointment
of eight new trustees to replace the board members who resigned earlier this year.
The new members include four doctors, a nurse, two housing advocates and a former state senator. They will officially take over the posts Wednesday, the day after the board's monthly meeting. One seat on the 18-member board remains vacant.
The positions were open because eight trustees resigned in February, saying it was the only way to move the hospital beyond months of controversy about the board's role in a million expansion project that ran far over budget.
The hospital's four parent organizations asked for applications from people in the community who were interested in the job. They received more than 200 responses.
The make-up of the previous board was criticized by some for being dominated by corporate leaders and failing to represent all Vermonters.
Click here to read more.
2003-04-16: New F.A.H.C. trustees had their first taste
of hospital policy-making Tuesday and came out of the meeting professing enthusiasm for the task at hand.
Eight new trustees are poised to join the board today. Eight resigning trustees attended their last board meeting Tuesday. The panel had little time for pomp and circumstance marking the transition.
Board Chairwoman V. Louise McCarren acknowledged the change near the start of the meeting. "It's been a difficult time, but we have been very steadfast to the institution," she told the trustees who are leaving the panel.
The eight positions opened up in February, when eight trustees resigned, saying it was the only way to move the hospital beyond months of controversy about the board's role in a million expansion that ran far over budget.
Composition of the previous board was criticized by some for being dominated by corporate leaders and failing to represent all Vermonters.
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2003-04-16: The state told Vermont's largest hospital
to show why it should not be ordered to shut down its million renovation and expansion project.
Fletcher Allen Health Care responded in an April 2 document made public Tuesday that ''a work stoppage, even a temporary one, would cause immediate and irreparable harm to Fletcher Allen and the public.''
The hospital asked for continuation of a special order issued in November that allowed construction on its Renaissance Project to proceed, despite the fact that much of the project was not included in a state permit issued in 2001. Hearings on an amended certificate of need permit are to start in June.
The exchange, outlined in documents made public Tuesday, comes 10 months after it was revealed that the hospital had lied to state regulators about the scope and cost of the project, originally budgeted at million.
Click here to read more.
2003-04-25: Report of the Commissioner of the Department
of Banking, Insurance, Securities and Health Care Administration concerning the Fletcher Allen Health Care, Inc. Certificate of Need Process
Click here to read more.
2003-10-08: F.A.H.C. has paid a political price
for its controversial construction project. Now the hospital will pay a legal price.
In a settlement with federal and state prosecutors -- Fletcher Allen agreed to pay one million dollar -- and avoid any criminal charges.
... In the settlement -- Fletcher Allen acknowledges concealing costs from banks financing the project. Also -- misrepresenting the project to state regulators ... And trying to cover up any problems.
A one million dollar fine is a fraction of Fletcher Allen's budget -- but prosecutors say it sends a message.
... The deal ends Fletcher Allen's legal troubles with state and federal prosecutors, but the actual people who allegedly lied, concealed and covered up the costs of the Renaissance Project could still face prosecution.
Click here to read more.
2003-10-08: Hospital admits misdeeds and is fined
M by prosecutors -- Fletcher Allen Health Care admitted Monday that its representatives broke the law when they lied to cover up the cost and scope of the hospital's massive expansion.
State and federal prosecutors fined Fletcher Allen million a fraction of its more than half-billion-dollar annual budget and left the door open for criminal prosecution of the individuals involved. A settlement agreement between prosecutors and the hospital was filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Burlington.
Prosecutors are continuing their investigations, but will not pursue charges against the hospital, Vermont Attorney General William Sorrell said Monday at a news conference. The agreement comes one week before the hospital's new chief executive officer, Melinda Estes, begins work.
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