Wednesday, March 26, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
Health care workers have organized a new national network to support communities and caregivers fighting what they call Columbia's strategy of buying and then slashing standards at its hospitals.
The network is dubbed CODE COLUMBIA, or Caregivers Organized to Demand Excellence at Columbia/HCA.
Network leaders at the Quality Summit in Las Vegas said Tuesday they will distribute fliers to Columbia hospitals nationwide, explaining how fraud whistleblowers are eligible for a percentage of funds recovered.
Columbia/HCA is the nation's largest profit hospital chain.
"We'll be making sure every employee knows what fraud is and what they can do to expose it," Rayna Pratt, from Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago, said in a news release.
Federal agents conducted a massive search and seizure of records at Columbia/HCA hospitals in El Paso, Texas, recently. Rep. Fortney "Pete" Stark, D-Calif., said then that it was just the start of what may be a broadening investigation into suspected Medicare fraud.
The workers at Columbia Sunrise in Las Vegas are organizing with the Service Employees International Union to restore standards they say have been lowered since the chain bought Sunrise in 1993.
Quality Summit participants met in private with local health care workers, reviewing patient care data and strategies. The Sunrise workers say they have documented deterioration in patient care under Columbia/HCA.
"Over the coming months, we're going to show the world in great detail what happens when Columbia buys its way into a town," Sunrise nurse Jerri Woolston said.
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