New information has come to light that has led to charges that UT Southwestern Department of Surgery has allowed surgical residents to operate virtually unsupervised at Parkland Hospital, with poor outcomes for patients. CEO Dr. Ron Anderson has refused to release records about hospital outcomes. Trauma surgeon Dr. Larry Gentilello’s whistleblower lawsuit is discussed.
The newspaper was quick to tell readers that Parkland would not release patient care statistics gathered by the American College of Surgeons. However, they failed to inform readers why. Parkland has nothing to hide; the contract with the American College of Surgeons prevents Parkland from distributing it externally.
The story is full of holes. It names a plaintiff in a lawsuit against UTSW 40 times in the first story. Parkland is prohibited by its contract with the American College of Surgeons from releasing the information – as are all the other hospitals involved in this quality initiative. The Morning News had an agenda based on the claims of a disgruntled doctor and a few of his close friends. They have lumped every other issue the hospital or medical school has ever had together in a pathetic attempt to discredit two of the most respected and valuable insitutions in the city. Read UTSW’s rebutal. It is hidden on the Morning News web page in a long list of sidebar items. The significant facts provided should have been part of the story.
The story is true. The Dallas News has printed and published well over twenty five articles in the last five months, with photos of documents obtained throughout the Freedom of Information Act. The include a copy of a February 2010 audit that found in multiple departments there is “systemic lack of compliance with federal regulation” concerning billing fraud. That is, billing for operations performed by unsupervised house staff. They were nearly booted out of participation in Medicare an Medicaid for routinely allowing patients to go to the OR without adequate consent. At least five of the stories were front page headline news. That included an article that they are under federal investigation. The UTSW President and Parkland are blaming all this on one litigant. The litigant didn’t do the failed audit, take the patients to the OR without consent, etc.
Photos of the documents depositions, witness statements, letters from the federal government, etc are all in the public domain at DallasHealthCare.blogspot.com. You should decide on the far-reaching implications ofnthis investigation on your own, and not rely on UTSW spinning. UTSW has tried to prevent the investigation since 2007 in trial court, Texas Appeals Court (twice), and the Texas Supreme Court. UTSW is trying yet again to block it in their second pleading to the Supreme Court last week. The investigation was initiated by a former surgical Chair and leading surgeon at UTSW who reported billing fraud. UTSW is now in its fourth year trying to thwart the investigation in the court. Itnhas important implications for surgical education.
There was nothing preventing Parkland from showing it’s performance results. They have them in a form that does not allow patients or individual surgeons to be identified. They also do not have information that identifies any hospital other than its own. Those disclosures, and use of the results for marketing purposes, are the only prohibitions.