The following article appeared in the New York Times. The year? 1992. Very little has changed during these past 21 years. How many patients have suffered during that time? Hundreds? Thousands? How much money has been lost? Money that could have been spent to provide quality patient care. Much of the money lost is your money.
This article was about the investigation into the business practices of New Medico Health Care Systems. After the investigation of the New Medico facility at 244 Highwatch Rd. in Effingham, New Hampshire. Lakeview Management, Inc. assumed control of the facility. The current administrator, David Armstrong has been working at 244 Highwatch Road for 25 years:
David Armstrong graduated from Perth College of Nursing (Scotland) in 1978. His 15 years of clinical psychiatric nursing included 4 years in a forensic unit. Since coming to America in 1988, Mr. Armstrong has worked for Lakeview NeuroRehabilitation Center. [Previously New Medico] He held the positions of Case Manager, Program Director and Director of Quality Assurance prior to assuming the role of Administrator in 2005. MORE
He is therefore the bridge between the two Healthcare organizations. You may consider this as inconsequential, but I say that it is telling...
Mike Corthell, Editor & Publisher
''Have you witnessed another human being being neglected or abused? You are required either by state law or your own good conscience to report it to those who we charge with enforcing the law. In New Hampshire call: Call (603) 271-7014 or toll Free from within NH at (800) 949-0470 You can report anonymously if you need to. In other states contact Health and Human Services.''
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New York Times 1993: Treating of Severe Brain Injuries Is Profitable, but Not for Patients
In a new and fast-growing field of rehabilitative medicine, many of the nation's health-care centers are being accused of preying on some of the most vulnerable of patients: people with severe brain injuries. In the process, critics say, operators of the centers are reaping millions of dollars in profits from insurance payments....
Critics of the rehabilitation programs are especially vocal about one large for-profit chain, New Medico Health Care Systems, of Lynn, Mass., which operates 36 rehabilitation centers in 15 states.[Including Highwatch in Effingham, New Hampshire, now known as Lakeview] But they say that in addition to New Medico, many other companies are also drawing complaints. Rebound Inc. of Nashville has been accused of falsifying reports to insurance companies, and Total Therapy Management of Troy, Mich., has been accused by families of overbilling. All three companies denied the criticisms and insisted that they have high standards and provide excellent care. Any lapses that may have occurred, they said, have been corrected. Hundreds of Complaints...
The following are among the hundreds of allegations involving many for-profit head-injury centers, according to Government investigators:
*Unethical marketing that includes lying to the families of people suffering recent brain injuries, and pressure tactics to gain access to hospital records of patients with substantial insurance.
*Bad care. Parents who said they were promised intensive therapy report finding quadriplegic children unattended, having lain for hours or days in vomit or feces. Others said their children's condition seriously deteriorated from neglect.
*Expensive rehabilitation programs that admit and keep patients who cannot benefit from them, simply to garner insurance payments. One researcher found that for an average nine-month stay, patients were charged $106,000 for treatment not justified by the results. Patients released after less than six months did just as well, the researcher found.
*Companies instructing medical staff members to file false or misleading reports of patient progress to insurance companies, to keep patients in their programs until insurance coverage was exhausted. Robert E. Brabham, executive director of the National Association of Rehabilitation Facilities, an industry trade group, said the complaints represented only a small percentage of head-injury facilities.
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