Nova sues Westchester General Hospital
Nova Southeastern has sued Westchester General Hospital, which is led by a longtime trustee of the university.
BY JOHN DORSCHNER
[email protected]
In an unusual legal battle, Nova Southeastern University has filed suit against an institution run by one of the school's own trustees, Sylvia Urlich, president of Westchester General Hospital.
The lawsuit complains that the West Dade hospital violated Medicare regulations and a contract between the two institutions. It alleges the hospital was not paying the university for the ''actual costs'' of the Broward school's dental residency program, even though Westchester was supposedly receiving that money from Medicare to reimburse the program.
Westchester has responded with its own lawsuit, charging the university with ''refusing to provide the necessary documents'' to the hospital, causing the facility ``to become involved in litigation with others, including Medicare.''
The battle appears to mark the start of a bitter divorce between Nova and Westchester, which have a long-standing relationship in which Nova's students in osteopathic medicine receive training at Westchester, which is owned by a family of osteopathic physicians.
Westchester President Urlich, who is a member of the family, was a trustee of the university when the lawsuit was filed. She resigned from the board last week, said the hospital's attorney, Glen Waldman.
Medicare does not generally pay for seniors' dental treatment, but the federal program reimburses hospitals for graduate medical education to help providers-in-training to treat under-served patients. Such payments are given only if the ''hospital incurs all, or substantially all, of the costs for the training program,'' Medicare regulations say.
Since 2001, Nova and Westchester had a contract in which the hospital was to pay Nova about $380,000 a year for the costs of the dental residency program -- money that Medicare was then supposed to pay Westchester.
The Nova lawsuit, filed by Miami attorney Lewis Tein, indicates that First Coast Service Options, the organization that pays Medicare claims in Florida, launched an investigation of Westchester in August 2005.
PROBE'S FINDINGS
In September 2006, First Coast issued a preliminary finding that the entire dental residency program for 2002 and 2003 ''should be disallowed, in part, because of the differences and inconsistencies in the amounts claimed by WGH and the costs incurred by Nova,'' according to the university's lawsuit.
The Nova complaint alleges that Westchester 'for certain periods . . . did not pay the `actual' costs of Nova's dental residency program, but rather paid Nova lesser amounts. WGH, acting through one or more of its officials, instructed Nova employees to reduce Nova's year-end cost invoices to reflect budgeted amounts that were predetermined by WGH.''
This failure to pay the costs violated 'Medicare's requirement that WGH incur `all, or substantially all' of the costs of Nova's dental residency program,'' the school's lawsuit alleges.
On Nov. 28, Nova terminated its dental contract with Westchester, effective Feb. 28.
HOSPITAL'S LAWSUIT
The hospital's lawsuit, filed by Waldman, alleges that in 2006 the dental school stopped providing Westchester with detailed reports about the costs it incurred by its dental residency program.
This lack of cost data has caused the hospital problems with Medicare, the hospital suit alleges. The Westchester filing includes a terse letter from Tein, about the university's refusal: ``In light of past conduct by WGH, NSU has decided not to provide WGH with any such information.''
The letter was written May 4, the same day Nova filed its lawsuit. Among other things, the complaint offers to return the 2006 payments it received from the hospital, ``but is uncertain whether these payments should be returned to WGH or paid directly to the United States.''
Three days later, Westchester filed its lawsuit.
Westchester, located at 2500 SW 75th Ave., is a 172-bed for-profit facility. In 2005, according to state documents, it had an occupancy rate of 82.4 percent, considerably above the 50.8 percent of nearby Kendall Regional, owned by HCA. It had $1.87 million net income on operating revenue of $51.6 million.
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