The former COO of Boston-based Steward Health Care System has been indicted on a charge he obstructed a federal investigation into Health Management Associates, according to a Boston Globe report.
The indictment against Joshua Putter, a former vice president with Naples, Fla.-based Health Management, was unsealed Tuesday by a magistrate in the U.S. District Court in Fort Myers, Fla.
Mr. Putter is accused of destroying, altering or falsifying records in connection with an ongoing investigation of Health Management by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, HHS and the Office of Inspector General. A Florida grand jury has been examining financial fraud allegations against Health Management, a for-profit system currently in the middle of a pending transaction with Franklin, Tenn.-based Community Health Systems.
Mr. Putter previously worked at Health Management before joining Steward in October 2011. Details of the accusations against Mr. Putter were not specified in the report, but he faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison. A trial is scheduled for January.
He left Steward in June, taking an indefinite leave for personal reasons, and has not returned since, according to the report. A Steward spokesperson told The Boston Globe the indictment is exclusively related to Mr. Putter's time at Health Management, not Steward, and he is no longer a Steward employee.
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