The Miami-Dade County Office of Inspector General has released a report criticizing some of Foundation Health Services' practices in the international marketing program of Miami-based Jackson Health System, according to a Miami Herald report.
FHS spent $7 million or more each year on the international marketing program. The report's key criticism is based on a 2009 whistleblower complaint, which claimed FHP executives manipulated the number of foreign patients brought in by the program.
The OIG complaint disputes how FHS calculated the number of foreign patients it brought to the system, which could determine whether the marketing campaign is worth its price tag. The OIG concluded that FHS was "reporting all international patient activity, not just the patient activity derived from its own marketing efforts," according to the report.
County commissioners slammed FHS last year as well, and in the spring, Jackson transferred the marketing program to a new nonprofit entity: Jackson Memorial International. Nearly all of FHS' employees moved to the new entity except for its CEO, Rolando Rodriguez. Since then, JMI has slashed $2 million from campaign costs by reducing travel and other expenses, but county commissioners are still concerned the program may be unaffordable for Jackson, which lost $337 million in the past two years.
Read the Miami Herald report on Jackson Health System and its international marketing campaign.
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FHS spent $7 million or more each year on the international marketing program. The report's key criticism is based on a 2009 whistleblower complaint, which claimed FHP executives manipulated the number of foreign patients brought in by the program.
The OIG complaint disputes how FHS calculated the number of foreign patients it brought to the system, which could determine whether the marketing campaign is worth its price tag. The OIG concluded that FHS was "reporting all international patient activity, not just the patient activity derived from its own marketing efforts," according to the report.
County commissioners slammed FHS last year as well, and in the spring, Jackson transferred the marketing program to a new nonprofit entity: Jackson Memorial International. Nearly all of FHS' employees moved to the new entity except for its CEO, Rolando Rodriguez. Since then, JMI has slashed $2 million from campaign costs by reducing travel and other expenses, but county commissioners are still concerned the program may be unaffordable for Jackson, which lost $337 million in the past two years.
Read the Miami Herald report on Jackson Health System and its international marketing campaign.
Related Articles on Jackson Health System:
Patient Data Taken From Florida's Jackson Health System
Florida's Jackson Health System Names Don Steigman COO
Florida's Jackson Health Wants to Cut Salaries, Benefits by $200M