The Washington Post reported on a recent realization last week -- that CMS (Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services) officials in charge of over $300 million in contract awards for quality improvement organizations (QIOs) enjoyed more than their share of trips to beach and mountain resorts on QIO dollars:
In a letter sent on Wednesday to CMS Administrator Mark McClellan, Committee Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) requested detailed reports on travel and expenditures for agency employees who attended conferences since 2003, including two physicians -- Steven Jencks and William Rollow -- who oversee QIO contracts. According to the letter, photographs of one conference site at a beach resort in St. Petersburg, Fla., "suggest a cruise ship atmosphere" and "depict a luxurious resort, lavish dinners, dessert buffets and Hawaiian dance parties -- all in a tropical beach locale." The committee launched the investigation in August 2005 after a Post series reported that QIOs -- private, state-based contractors paid by Medicare to investigate patient complaints and oversee quality of care issues -- often fail to investigate complaints and that some executives receive high salaries and perks.Hawaiian dance parties? Buffets? Sounds great -- especially when the contracts are for assuring quality in health care organizations. You remember quality, right? As in not causing 100,000 deaths due to medical error every year? Yeah, that.
These days, it sure seems like Abramoff targeted the wrong sector of government industry. Or maybe we have these sunny vacations to thank for the Medicare Part D bill.
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