Two
whistleblowers say the new front-runner in the Republican race for
governor is lying when he says he did not know about fraud in his
former company, the Columbia/HCA hospital chain.

In July 1997, FBI agents raided Columbia/HCA accounting offices in
seven states, including Florida. Within days, Columbia’s board of
directors ousted Scott, but gave him a nearly $10 million severance
package, including stock shares worth $300 million and a $1 million a
year consulting contract.

The company wound up paying more than $1.7 billion for defrauding the federal Medicare and Medicaid programs.

Scott says he didn’t know about his company’s fraudulent billing practices and if he had, he’d have fired those responsible.

But company whistleblower John Schilling of Naples says Scott must be lying.

“He’s pulling the wool over your eyes if he says that he wasn’t
aware of this and he would have fired anybody if he would have been
aware of it. I think it’s a bunch of malarkey,” Schilling said.

Schilling worked for Columbia as a Medicare reimbursement supervisor
in Fort Myers. His whistleblower case, along with others, helped put an
end to the fraud and hold the company accountable.

Schilling first discovered the company’s fraudulent billing
practices in 1993 after a call from a Medicare auditor about a cost
reporting issue with Fawcett Memorial Hospital in Port Charlotte.

Schilling describes a meeting he had with Columbia administrators,
during which he was instructed to “throw federal auditors off the
track.” That included offering one of the auditors a job.

“They didn’t use the word conspire, but it was basically a
conspiracy of, let’s think of some ideas and have John do this,” he
said.

“Well, at the end of that to-do list, Jay Jarrell, the CFO said,
‘Well, if all else fails, let’s just offer the Medicare auditor a job
with the company.’ And it was at that point, that I really started to
feel sick to my stomach that, this is not right.

“You don’t want to offer a Medicare auditor a job. If this was a mistake, why are we trying to hide this?” he said.

Schilling left the company and filed a lawsuit on behalf of the
federal government. Then Columbia began courting Schilling to come
back. At this time, the FBI was already on the case – and Schilling
says his life began to resemble a John Grisham novel.

“The FBI saw that it was a good opportunity for me to get back into
the organization and kind of be their eyes and ears,” Schilling said.

He said the FBI wanted help with their search warrants and “just to
kind of be that fly on the wall or spy within the organization,” he
said.

“I worked my way back into the company. They had no idea I was a government informant,” he said.

Schilling’s case was merged with that of another whistleblower in Montana: former HCA hospital CFO Jim Alderson.

Alderson says he believes he was fired because of his refusal to
abide by accounting practices that maintained two separate sets of
books: one showing reimbursements submitted to Medicare, and another
secret book documenting fraudulent claims that would be rejected if
found by Medicare auditors.

The company maintained large reserve funds in case auditors ever
discovered the false claims and had to pay up. Alderson says the
practice was so widespread, that Scott had to know about it.

“These reserves represented anywhere from 25 to 35 percent of the bottom line of the company in its heyday,” Alderson said.

“It’s just totally unfeasible that a CEO making the kind of money he
was making, that you wouldn’t know where 30 percent of your bottom line
came from. How could you sit in a board room and say, ‘Gee, I wonder;
we had record profits this year. I wonder where they came from?’”

Alderson says fraud also helped Scott grow the company at such a rapid rate.

“It’s a house of cards. From what we found in our case was Medicare defrauding paid for the acquisitions,” he said.

“They charged the Medicare program interest when they’d buy these
other hospitals and that, in many cases, was not legal and that was a
major part of our case,” Alderson said.

One of four Columbia/HCA executives convicted in the case was Bob
Whiteside. He was later acquitted on appeal and says he still stands by
Scott, his former boss.

Whiteside wouldn’t consent to a recorded interview. He says the
billing practices didn’t start with Scott, but were adopted from one of
the other companies acquired by Columbia.

Whiteside says the illegal activity was widespread within the
healthcare industry, but since Columbia/HCA was the largest, the
government made an example of it.

Schilling agrees that the fraud didn’t start with Columbia, but says
Scott’s profit driven and cut-throat corporate culture encouraged the
practice to grow. Schilling says administrators who met profit goals
were rewarded with bonuses of 50 percent or more of their base salary.

“They took shortcuts, they did whatever it took to get to it because they were motivated by the money,” Schilling said.

“They had to meet certain profit margins and if they didn’t meet
them, I tell you what, I saw several CEOs of hospitals or CFOs that got
fired because they didn’t cut it,” he said.

Scott was never charged and says he was never questioned in the
case. After leaving Columbia, he invested in a television network which
became Discovery Health. He also co-founded Solantic Corporation; a
chain of urgent care centers in Northeast Florida.

At an event in Tampa Friday, Scott characterized his former company's actions as a mistake.

"Sometimes, people make mistakes. And when you're CEO, you take
responsibility - which I do - but you talk about the things you do
well, which I do, and the things you've got to work on," Scott said.

"We drove down the cost of health care, we improved outcomes, we
improved patient satisfaction. Could we have hired more internal
auditors? You'd better believe it.

"But that's the difference. In business, if something goes wrong,
you're held accountable. In government - think about all the things
that've gone wrong. Have you seen politicians take responsibility? They
don't. So what you want in a leader is you want someone who learns, and
take those learnings, and applies it to any issue and takes
responsibility," Scott said.

Former Florida House Speaker and Republican U.S. Senate candidate Marco Rubio spoke before a crowd of supporters Thursday in Cape Coral. WGCU’s John Davis was there and has this report.

Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens announced his retirement this morning. Florida’s Republican Senator George Lemieux commended Stevens on his record of distinguished service – including 34 years on the high court. 

This year’s state legislative session has a twist. Dozens of lawmakers are running for a higher office. WGCU’s Luis Hernandez reports on how that could mean even less will be accomplished.

U.S Representative Connie Mack returned to his roots yesterday – to the business in his hometown of Cape Coral that gave him his first job in high school.  The Republican lawmaker says Marine Concepts is a perfect example of a small business struggling to stay afloat under the policies of the Obama Administration.  WGCU’s Valerie Alker prepared this report.

Governor Charlie Crist says he wants more money for K-through-12 public education.  He’s proposing a 500-million dollar budget increase.  But, that may depend on lawmakers agreeing to the Seminole gambling pact, and the state winning a federal grant.  WGCU’s Luis Hernandez reports.

Republican U-S Senate hopeful Marco Rubio held a rally in Fort Myers Wednesday night.  In his speech Rubio remained critical of Governor Charlie Crist, his rival for the party nomination, for supporting President Obama’s stimulus package.  WGCU’s John Davis reports.

Florida voters will face a ballot referendum in November on two proposed constitutional amendments that would change the way boundaries are drawn for legislative and congressional districts.  WGCU’s John Davis reports.

During a visit to Naples on Friday Governor Charlie Crist told to a crowd of more than three dozen Cubs fans that it’s not over yet.  WGCU’s Luis Hernandez reports.

Speaking in Naples on Friday Governor Charlie Crist said he’ll ask state lawmakers to put more money for the environment in next year’s budget.  WGCU’s Luis Hernandez reports.