Earlier this year, five leaders of the Louisiana Department of Health boarded a politically connected hospital executive’s private plane to meet with federal health regulators out of state. These regulators control how much public money flows to health care facilities, including those operated by hospital owners.
Rock Bordelon, a political donor who owns Allegiance Health Management in Bossier City, was arrested on Feb. 5 in Washington, D.C., an area of Gov. Jeff Landry’s top health care officials, according to public disclosures. He provided round-trip tickets on his private plane and paid for “ground transportation expenses.” Form completed by state agency.
State health leaders on board Bordelon’s flight included Surgeon General Ralph Abraham, Health Secretary Michael Harrington, Undersecretary of Health Peter Clowan, Undersecretary of Health Drew Marant, and Department of Health General Counsel Nicholas Gashashin. was.
Records show the group traveled to the East Coast to confer with the U.S. Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS). Federal agencies have a large say in how much Louisiana hospitals, doctors and other health care providers are paid for patient care under the Medicaid program.
“LDH staff encountered logistical issues in booking commercial flights for executive team members and were informed that Mr. Bordelon had already planned a flight to accommodate executive team members,” the Ministry of Health said. Spokesman Kevin Litten said in a written statement Wednesday. .
“To ensure full transparency, LDH timely filed the appropriate affidavits with the Ethics Committee disclosing the travel provided,” Litten wrote.
The total travel expenses for health officials provided by Bordelon are estimated at $17,150, according to state disclosure documents.
Bordelon’s company operates 11 hospitals in rural Louisiana, as well as behavioral health centers, hospice care and other clinics. Rural health facilities tend to be located in areas with high proportions of low-income, uninsured, and underinsured residents and are therefore typically more dependent on public funding from state and federal governments. It will be.
Mr. Bordelon has purchased eight of Louisiana’s 11 hospitals since the beginning of 2016 and has since become a major political donor.
Health officials have donated a total of $291,000 to the campaigns of Landry, Attorney General Liz Murrill, former Gov. John Bel Edwards and other state elected officials since 2018. Personal relationship with Donald Trump Jr. – Both men appear in the investigation. Having Bordelon co-produce the show also makes him attractive to Republicans in power.
Bordelon and “a number of hospital executives from other companies” attended a February meeting with federal Medicaid regulators, along with state health officials, Bordelon said.
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“Again, the goal of all of us in attendance was to support LDH’s efforts to ensure quality care for the people of Louisiana,” he wrote in an email Monday. .
In September, state health officials agreed to nearly double the daily Medicaid bed rate for acute care at seven hospitals, including four under the Bordelon umbrella. The rate hike is expected to cost the state and federal governments an additional $22 million this fiscal year.
Louisiana officials could initiate such rate hikes, but they would need approval from federal Medicaid officials to take effect. Bordelon and the Ministry of Health said paying higher fees to the seven hospitals was not discussed at the February meeting.
“The meeting between the LDH team and CMS in February 2024 had nothing to do with local hospital rates or reimbursement,” Litten said.
The health department did not respond to questions about the purpose of the meeting or the content of its conversations with federal officials. Bordelon said in an email that the group discussed Medicaid rates paid to doctors affiliated with hospitals in Louisiana. Those payments will impact his business and many other health systems in the state.
Government ethics experts said it is generally frowned upon and illegal in some states for public officials to travel on the private planes of the people they regulate or fund.
Ann Lovell, a former Federal Election Commission chair who now teaches at the University of California, Berkeley, argues that “state officials (or other high-ranking public officials) do not act for their own benefit, which could be viewed as a conflict of interest. should not receive any financial benefit.” The law school said this week in an email response to questions.
But Louisiana’s ethics law contains loopholes regarding receiving travel benefits from industries overseen by state officials.
State law declares that public servants may not accept “anything of economic value” from anyone who “performs a business or activity regulated by an agency of the public servant.”
But allows public officials to accept “free admission, lodging, and reasonable transportation” if the accommodations are “a direct benefit to the agency” and a disclosure form is filed with the state Ethics Commission. It also provides for exceptions.
A review of disclosure filings by the state’s former top health officials shows that while it is not unheard of for health care workers to travel on their provider’s private plane, it is rare.
Dr. Rebecca Gee, Edwards University’s first Secretary of Health, boarded an Ochsner Health System plane in October 2019 to attend the groundbreaking ceremony for the LSU Health Sciences Center in Shreveport.
Lobbyist Paul Rainwater also provided unspecified transportation worth $353 for Gee to meet with leaders of the Louisiana Association of Regional Hospitals and attend a press conference at Delta Community College in April 2019. provided.
In 2023, during Edwards’ second term as health secretary, Courtney Phillips received a free $300 ticket to the Washington Mardi Gras Ball from Ochsner Health. Ruth Johnson, Phillips’ deputy health secretary, received the same $300 ticket from Ochsner that year.
In June, Harrington, Landry’s current health director, and Gachasin, the department’s general counsel, also flew from Baton Rouge to Monroe via “airlift” provided by the Franciscan Missionary Society of Our Lady, which operates the state’s largest hospital. is. Each costs $715. The trip was to “attend a meeting with hospital management and staff at a local hospital,” according to disclosure documents.
In August, Mr. Harrington also accepted $193 worth of travel expenses from Acadian Ambulance Services to Lafayette to discuss “Medicaid service delivery models.”
But while state health officials have traveled to Washington, D.C., many times over the years to talk about the Medicaid program, they typically do not rely on health care executives to provide trips to federal regulators.
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