Tuomey Board responds to lawsuit

We have spent the last several years reading negative articles and letters to the editor regarding Tuomey Healthcare System and its case with the United States Government with particular attention given that we are the Board of Trustees for Tuomey. Because of the pending litigation, Tuomey’s lawyers advised Board members not to comment on this matter. We can no longer sit idly by, in silence, regardless of the lawsuit.

For almost five years, Tuomey Healthcare System has attempted to clear its good name in an epic battle against the federal government, which was started by the allegations of one local doctor. To this day, we believe that Tuomey followed both the letter and the spirit of the law. We did not ask for this fight with the Government, and contrary to statements made by people who do not know all of the facts, Tuomey has made several attempts to settle this issue over the last several years.

The only reason that this situation is not yet resolved hinges on the Government’s unwillingness to address this issue in a reasonable fashion. Rather, the Government has accused Tuomey, and by implication all of the fine doctors, nurses and other people who work here, of terrible things, none of which are true. At trial, the Government asked the jury to award it almost $300 million dollars based on allegations that Tuomey committed fraud against the Government.

To learn how we ended up where we are today, we have to look back to how this process began. Over six years ago, the Tuomey Board of Trustees made the decision to implement a strategy to work more closely with the physicians on its medical staff in an effort to improve the quality of care provided in Sumter and to create a more stable environment for physicians who work in the community. Tuomey’s Board felt that it needed to create these arrangements in order to keep these physicians in the community as the business side of practicing medicine weakened making it more difficult to practice medicine in our community.

Contracts like these which allow the physicians and hospitals to work more closely with one another are common throughout South Carolina and the rest of the country. Physicians and hospitals are actually being encouraged by Congress and other federal agencies to work more closely together. Tuomey obtained expert advice from outside attorneys and consultants who were experienced in health care law to assist in developing this physician integration strategy.

With their assistance and upon their guidance, we developed arrangements with members of medical staff to comply with the law. Tuomey believed at that time and still believes that those contracts are legal. Of the dozens of physicians that we talked with about this arrangement, only one physician raised any questions or concerns regarding the contracts. That doctor only raised those concerns after negotiations broke down because Tuomey refused to pay him more money than what was allowed in our fair market value opinions.

We looked into the concerns raised by the doctor and obtained a second legal opinion telling us that the contracts were legal. In the interest of transparency, Tuomey also authorized our attorneys to turn over a copy of the contracts in question to the U.S. Attorney's office in Columbia in September 2005. This was before the local physician filed his “whistleblower” suit.

Our lawyers were told by the Government that they would hear back if there were any problems. The next time that Tuomey heard from the Government was not until February 2006 when it was informed that it was under investigation for fraud. Since that time, Tuomey has been in a fight for its life. We never wanted to spend millions of dollars on lawyers and consultants to defend ourselves but we were left with no choice. That money would have been better spent on providing health care services to citizens that we serve. But the Board believed and still believes that since the contracts were legal, and were entered into to better serve the community, it would be wrong to simply cave in to Government pressure and terminate the contracts, which would undo any benefit that the community would realize by having the doctors and hospital work more closely with one another. We stood up for our rights and the interests of the people of Sumter, even though we knew it would be a tough fight. Some are now criticizing us for doing what we firmly believe was the right thing to do.

Several times during this period, we thought that we had the issue settled only to find that the Government did not want to settle the matter. Needless to say the last four years have been a nightmare for Tuomey and yet we kept the doors open and we kept our high standards of medical care for the community. From 2006-2009, Tuomey provided charitable or free care in the amount of $156,119,467 of total charges while defending this lawsuit.

In March of this year, Tuomey was left with no choice but to go to trial against the federal government. Tuomey did not want to put the hospital's very existence at risk but the government again left Tuomey no choice. The government sought almost $300 million from Tuomey. That would have put us out of business for good and put thousands of people out of work during the worst economic crisis in a century. Fortunately, a jury of 12 South Carolina citizens reached a verdict and determined that Tuomey did not violate the False Claims Act and that the Government was entitled to nothing. We believe this verdict completely vindicated Tuomey. Unfortunately, the judge recently indicated that he intended to throw the jury verdict out, order a new trial, and actually hand the Government over $50,000,000 dollars even before Tuomey has a chance to defend itself at the new trial. With all due respect to the judge, Tuomey believes this ruling is incorrect and will seek to have it reversed. If this judgment is enforced, Tuomey will be severely injured and this will impact our community.

The jury's verdict form did indicate that the jury thought that Tuomey violated the federal Stark law. The Stark law is a complex Medicare payment statute. It is not a criminal law or a fraud law. The jury’s verdict form gave no specific indication of how the hospital purportedly violated the Stark law. The Government asked the jury to give it money for the violation of the Stark law and False Claim Act. The fact that the jury did not award any money to the Government even though it stated that the Stark law was violated further supports Tuomey’s position.

This has been a harrowing journey for Tuomey. The citizens of Sumter need to understand that the Tuomey Board has been highly engaged in this process every step of the way and has always tried to do what we felt was in the best interest of our hospital. We have not been reckless or careless when considering the threats made by the Government. Despite having multiple lawyers, law firms, and consultants tell us that we did not violate any of the applicable laws; we still continued to look for a way to settle this matter.

A jury of our peers and yours agreed with us. Now the original verdict has been called into question. Tuomey and everyone in Sumter are faced with an unfortunate fact of life that has become all too common in today’s world -- if you disagree with the federal Government, you will pay--and pay dearly. Undoubtedly, the Government and others involved in this case are looking for a big payday, at the expense of the Sumter community. We believe this is legally and morally wrong, especially since the Government got what it paid for when it paid claims to Tuomey, that is, quality medical services for Medicare patients. At no time were any allegations made or evidence presented by the Government that Tuomey billed for services that were not performed or that were not necessary. The disproportionality of the penalties imposed by the Court are shocking, considering that no one was hurt by anything that the Government alleged. To the contrary, these fine doctors provided needed surgical care to thousands in our community.

The Tuomey Board is comprised of volunteers who all live in Sumter County. We are not paid a dime for our service on the Board. We take our fiduciary duties very seriously. We are proud of our administration, our doctors and our employees and their successes over the last 20 years. Their efforts have made Tuomey into one of the South Carolina’s best hospitals. Unfortunately, we do not see articles or news in the local paper about Tuomey's successes or the positive impact that it has on Sumter.

You should ask yourself why that is. You should also ask why the local paper has seemingly acted as a cheerleader for the Government throughout this process and seemingly rooted for a result that would cripple the community. We know that the Government and the so-called “whistleblower” and his attorneys stand to make a pretty penny off this process, but in doing so they are threatening Tuomey’s very existence. You might also want to write to your elected representatives, such as Congressmen Clyburn and Spratt, and Senators Graham and DeMint, to ask them why the Government is trying to destroy our local hospital.

In the end, regardless of the outcome of the lawsuit, Tuomey’s Board, management, physicians and employees remain committed to providing quality health care now and in the future. So when you hear some uninformed people attacking Tuomey and the folks who provide care there, we ask you to consider the enormous value that Tuomey has brought to this community and whether it is in our shared interest to tear down what we have spent decades building. Tuomey deserves better and so does the Sumter community.

Board of Trustees of Tuomey Healthcare System:
Bobby Boykin, Chairman
Chal Glenn, Vice Chairman
Greg Thompson, Treasurer
Steve Creech, Secretary
Andy McFaddin, MD, Chief of Medical Staff
Jay Cox, President & CEO
Rev. James Blassingame
John Brabham
Henry Moses, MD
Phil Palmer
Kay Raffield
Sam Riddle, MD
Charles White, MD
Mitch Williams