Tuesday, August 08, 2006
Does Thompson have a conflict of interest?
[Christopher Lee, "Thompson's Medicaid Reforms Could Benefit His Employers," The Washington Post, 8 August 2006.]
Not only is Tommy Thompson's Medicaid overhaul proposal a flawed approach to reform the troubled program, but his motivation in presenting it is now coming under fire:
Thompson, who served during President Bush's first term, is on the board of Centene Corp., a St. Louis-based company that operates Medicaid-funded health maintenance organizations in Indiana, Kansas, Missouri, New Jersey, Ohio, Texas and Wisconsin. His proposals to move more Medicaid beneficiaries and uninsured people onto such plans could improve the company's bottom line.
Thompson also is chairman of the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions, part of Deloitte & Touche USA LLP, a consulting firm that has contracted with states to help improve their Medicaid programs. If Thompson becomes a driving force behind revamping Medicaid, states who hire Deloitte may feel they are contracting with a player. Ditto for clients' perceptions of the law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, in which Thompson is a partner and which has health-care and insurance industry clients.
Thompson also is a part-owner and board member of VeriChip Corp., which makes microchips that store data and can be implanted in humans. The company might benefit if Medicaid were to embrace electronic medical records.
"An important part of our strategy has been to attract key thought and opinion leaders, and Secretary Thompson has played an influential role in shaping this country's healthcare policies," Scott R. Silverman, CEO of VeriChip Corp.'s parent company, said in a July 2005 news release. "We look forward to him assisting the company to make the VeriChip an important part of the healthcare landscape."
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