HEADLINE NEWS
N.Y. Attorney General Alleges Blatant Corruption by CHAP Executive
NEW YORK--Melvin Lev, the embattled director of the Community Health Accreditation Program, used more than $120,000 of the organization's money to throw a lavish party for his wife, to purchase fitness club memberships for himself and his friends and to finance his car, according to sworn testimony from former and current CHAP executives.
Police escorted Lev off CHAP's premises on March 1, and three days later the New York State Supreme Court extended a temporary restraining order barring Lev from returning to CHAP.
During his one-year tenure as chief executive officer of CHAP, Lev also disbanded CHAP's board of directors for a period of four months, hired family members who had no health care or accreditation experience, and paid his own for-profit company to provide services to CHAP at a premium rate, the attorney general of the State of New York alleged.
Additionally, Lev purchased CHAP's membership from the Washington-based National League for Nursing in February of 2001, thereby violating a federal law that prohibits transfers of not-for-profit corporate memberships, the attorney general said. The deal saddled CHAP with a $240,000 debt that the organization did not previously have, and required CHAP to transfer an additional $160,000 to NLN.
Now the attorney general is asking a State Supreme Court judge to grant a preliminary injunction against Lev, Lev's family and the NLN, that would require these defendants to stay away from CHAP until the court issues a final ruling in the case.
Brad Maione, a spokesman for the attorney general's office, said he expects the judge to decide this morning whether to grant the injunction. He also expects the judge to decide on a motion brought by Lev's attorney, Mark Furman of the New York-based law firm Lifshutz Polland and Hoffman, requesting that the court appoint a receiver to run the day-to-day business of CHAP in Lev's absence.
Founded in 1965 by the NLN--a not-for-profit organization that focuses on nursing education--CHAP became incorporated in 1988. The NLN continued to direct CHAP's activities--which include accrediting home health agencies, home medical equipment companies, hospices and other out-of-hospital service providers--until Lev purchased CHAP's membership in 2001.
From 1998 to 2000, CHAP grew considerably, attracting large, national home health care chains such as Clearwater, Fla.-based Lincare and Norcross, Ga.-based Pediatric Services of America, according to Jerold Cohen, who served as CHAP's president from 1998 to 2001.
"We were more user friendly," Cohen explained, "and these companies liked what they saw."
At that time, CHAP was paying NLN approximately $20,000 per month to rent office space and to pay for the upkeep of a common computer server, according to sworn testimony from Dianne Feinstein, CHAP's vice president of operations and business development.
The tensions that resulted from NLN's failure to explain these charges prompted Feinstein, in May 2000, to approach Lev and his wife--both longtime friends of Feinstein--about financing CHAP's home medical equipment division into a for-profit corporation. But the idea was short-lived, Feinstein explained, because the Washington-based Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services told CHAP that such a drastic change would require CHAP to reapply for the authority to accredit Medicare service providers.
Nonetheless, Feinstein continued, Lev went ahead with negotiations to buy CHAP's membership from NLN, after CMS conceded that reapplication would not be necessary as long as CHAP's not-for-profit status and CHAP's board of directors remained intact.
Almost as soon as Lev assumed control of CHAP in February 2001, he named himself chief executive officer, fired the organization's vice president of accreditation and asked CHAP's entire board of directors to resign, according to sworn testimony from both Cohen and Feinstein.
"These changes in the board and managerial personnel were contrary to the conditions that [CMS] had established for CHAP to retain its Medicare deeming authority and, upon information and belief, were done without the knowledge of [CMS]," Cohen testified.
Lev also hired his son, Russell Lev as CHAP's compliance officer, despite the fact that Russell had "no experience or skills that are relevant to CHAP's not-for-profit activities," Feinstein testified.
The board of directors remained disbanded until June 2001, when Lev appointed some former members, as well as "several new directors who were friends of Lev and whose actions with respect to CHAP he believed he could control," Feinstein said.
During his months as chief executive officer of CHAP, Lev--who owns several for-profit businesses including New York-based Harem Foods and New York-based Lev Consulting, and who became independently wealthy as a principal in the Krispy Kreme doughnut chain--"continued a practice of misappropriating CHAP's funds to his personal use and benefit and to the personal use and benefit of members of his family," the assistant attorney general testified in a sworn statement.
"Lev did so by, among other things, issuing CHAP American Express cards to himself and defendants Russell Lev, Howard Lev and Aura Lev (even though Aura Lev was not employed by CHAP)," the assistant attorney general continued, "using CHAP credit cards and lines of credit to pay personal expenses unrelated to the not-for-profit activities of CHAP."
Cohen, who currently is a home health care consultant with Woodbine, N.J.-based Caesar Cohen Limited, first approached the attorney general with concerns about Lev's actions early in June, approximately three weeks before Lev fired Cohen as president of CHAP, Cohen said.
Members of CHAP's board of directors identified similar concerns in September 2001, according to Feinstein's testimony.
And, on March 1, the board notified CMS of the situation, Ayer said.
A spokesman from CMS confirmed that the agency is aware of the proceedings at CHAP, and "we're watching the situation to see what develops," he said.
Despite Lev's alleged abuses, Maione of the attorney general's office insisted that CHAP still is a viable, good company.
"The company did its best to help us out in this investigation," he said, adding that the attorney general does not want to tarnish CHAP's reputation.
While refusing to comment on the specifics of the case, Terri Ayer, CHAP's interim president and chief executive officer, said she does not expect these legal proceedings to affect CHAP's current operations. When asked about CHAP's future, Ayer responded, "It depends on how this comes out."
CMS to Drop CMN Requirement for Sleep Device
BALTIMORE--A spokesman from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services told HomeCare last week that the agency currently is drafting a memorandum to eliminate the certificate-of-medical-necessity requirement for continuous positive airway pressure devices.
However, CMS still will require a detailed, written order to accompany all CPAP claims, the spokesman added.
Study Links Sleep Disorder to Hyperactivity in Children
ANN ARBOR, Mich.--Inattentive and hyperactive children experience more frequent snoring, more severe daytime sleepiness and other symptoms of sleep-disordered breathing, according to a study conducted by the University of Michigan Health System.
The study, published in the March issue of Pediatrics, the journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, shows that children who snore are nearly twice as likely as other children to have problems with attention and hyperactivity. Habitual snoring increases the chances of hyperactivity in children from 12 percent to 22 percent, researchers found. In young boys, snoring increases chances of hyperactivity from 9 percent to 30 percent.
"If there is indeed a cause-and-effect link, sleep problems in children could represent a major public health issue," said Ronald Chervin, director of the university's Michael S. Aldrich Sleep Disorders Laboratory and lead author of the study. "It's conceivable that by better identifying and treating children's snoring and other nighttime breathing problems, we could help address some of the most common and challenging childhood behavioral issues."
However, Chervin acknowledged that additional research is necessary to determine if snoring and other symptoms of SDB contribute directly to behavioral disorders such as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. And, the authors of the study did not rule out the possibility that hyperactive behavior might lead to--instead of being caused by--SDB symptoms.
To read the complete results of the study, visit www.pediatrics.org, and select the March issue.
AAHomecare Sets 2002 Agenda
ALEXANDRIA, Va.--This year, the American Association for Homecare will encourage U.S. lawmakers to reduce Medicare regulatory burdens, to revise the government's definition of "confined to the home," and to eliminate consolidated billing for medical supplies, the association said in a March 7 press release.
"At the same time, we will continue to reiterate our overall message that home care is the high-quality, cost-effective and patient-preferred setting for care that can offer a solution to our nation's health care crisis," Board Chairman David Savitsky said at the association's recent Leadership Conference.
In addition to announcing AAHomecare's overarching 2002 goals, the press release enumerated industry-specific goals, designed to address both home medical equipment-related and home health agency-related concerns.
AAHomecare's HME-related 2002 agenda included:
--Ensuring adequate reimbursement for Medicare-covered drugs;
--Restoring the consumer price index for oxygen; and
--Preventing nationwide competitive bidding.
To learn more about AAHomecare's 2002 agenda, visit the association's news page at http://www.aahomecare.org/newsroom/pressreleases.htm.
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