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Lawsuit alleges LMH falsified records Fired nurse: Hospital committed fraud to maximize Medicare reimbursement By Michelle Tevis Twitter: @MichelleKTevis
A former employee of Lawrence Memorial Hospital has sued the hospital, alleging that it falsified records to increase Medicare and Medicaid payments.
Duffy
An attorney for Megen Duffy, a former emergency room nurse at LMH, filed the “whistleblower” lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Kan. The suit alleges that arrival times of patients with chest pains were falsified in the Emergency Depart-
ment to appear to coincide exactly with the time of the automatically generated time produced by the EKG monitor. Changing this time, the complaint says, conceals any time the patient spent in the waiting room, at registration or in triage. The suit says the fraud started as early as 2007.
According to the complaint, hospital senior staff and supervisors told Emergency Department staff members that the purpose of going to such lengths to falsely document arrival times, and other times related to treatment, was “to maximize reimbursement from CMS
(the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services).” “When employees questioned the practice and balked at falsifying these records, they were told that if they did not want to follow the policy that there were other hospitals where they could go work,” the complaint states. Please see LMH, page 6A
County seeks consultant for review of codes department ——
Kobach project has raised questions about favorable treatment By Karen Dillon Twitter: @karensdillon
Mike Yoder/Journal-World Photo
RUBY TOAL, 3, ENJOYS VIEWING SOME YOUNG COCKATIELS in a display Monday at Pet World. Lawrence city commissioners will be considering stricter fire codes for commercial buildings that house animals in the city at their meeting today. The proposed new rules, which would require automatic sprinkler systems in any animal-housing facility larger than 3,000 square feet, come in the wake of fires at two such facilities in the past year, including a fire at Pet World on Memorial Day, May 25.
City leaders to consider stronger fire codes for animal facilities By Peter Hancock Twitter: @LJWpqhancock
Lawrence city commissioners will be asked today to approve stricter fire codes for commercial buildings that house animals in
the city. The proposed new rules, which would require automatic sprinkler systems in any animal-housing facility larger than 3,000 square feet, come in the wake of fires at two such facilities in the past year.
The first occurred Nov. 29, 2014, at Christal K-9, in which at least three dogs that were being boarded were killed. That fire prompted city commissioners at that time to initiate a review of the city’s fire codes for animal-housing facilities.
In May, another fire broke out at Pet World, a retail pet store, resulting in the deaths of many animals. The store owner has never revealed exactly how many animals died. Please see FIRE, page 2A
SLT project would create big traffic changes
Town Talk
Chad Lawhorn clawhorn@ljworld.com
I
already have enough arguments with my GPS when I’m in west Lawrence. But if the Kansas Department of Transportation expands the western leg of the South Lawrence Trafficway to four lanes, I may have even more. KDOT leaders will be in Lawrence today to brief city officials on several alternatives they’re studying to expand the western portion of the SLT to
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Today’s forecast, page 6A
that would serve Lecompton. The proposal calls for a new interchange to be built about 2 miles west of the existing Lecompton interchange. The new interchange would allow you to access Lecompton Road — also known as County Route 1029 — the Farmer’s Turnpike — also known as County Route 438 — and the Kansas Please see SLT, page 6A
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four lanes. The project — if it ever receives funding — would involve several major changes that would take a bit of getting used to for motorists. Here are some examples: l There is currently an interchange on the Kansas Turnpike that is commonly referred to as the Lecompton interchange. But under one plan being considered, there would be an entirely new interchange
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Nearly two months after county commissioners said they were interested in a third-party review of the county’s building codes department, commissioners are set to find a consultant to conduct the review. Commissioners in early July indicated they wanted an outside consultant to examine the building and codes division after a contro- Kobach versy emerged over whether a rural building project by Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach had been granted too many exemptions from the county’s building code. At Wednesday’s Douglas County Commission meeting, commissioners will consider soliciting proposals from consultants interested in conducting the review. But it was unclear on Monday whether the proposed review will seek answers to many of the questions that surrounded the Kobach project. County Commissioners Jim Flory and Nancy Thellman both declined to answer questions for this article, and attempts to reach Commissioner Mike Gaughan were unsuccessful. The Kobach case — which involves a dispute over whether Kobach improperly converted an agricultural building into a residence without receiving the necessary county permits — has raised questions about whether the county’s building codes department has been allowed to use too much discretion in exempting projects from codes. Please see CODES, page 2A
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Vol.157/No.244 28 pages