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THANK YOU UNIVERSITY OF TOLEDO LEADERSHIP!

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The Save UTMC Coalition is delighted that the University of Toledo has suspended plans to sell or lease UTMC, and we genuinely thank interim President Dr. Gregory Postel, and Board of Trustees Chairman Al Baker, for seeking new partnerships and funding initiatives that can form the foundation of UTMC’s future successes.

Thi is the appropriate time, we believe, to put on paper our vision and plan to support and enhance the medical campus and its hospital.

  1. We remain opposed to any plan to sell, transfer, or co-manage UTMC, until all details of such a deal are made public, and time is provided for appropriate review and community input.
  2. On July 1, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost halted transfers of physicians and programs from UTMC to ProMedica Toledo Hospital for 90 days. Based upon anti-competitive constrictions written into the 2015 Affiliation Agreement between UT and ProMedica, the ban on transfers should remain in place until all UTMC stakeholders’ concerns are addressed.
  3. As for the Affiliation Agreement, we support the initiative of State Senator Teresa Fedor with AG Yost, and ask UT leadership to invoke arbitration if ongoing, anti-competitive decisions are not ended, and past harmful actions are not corrected.
  4. We request that negotiations between current UTMC management and Toledo Clinic officials be encouraged and supported by UT administration and trustees, and that doctors of both institutions be welcomed to practice at both campuses as respective services are needed. Initial discussions between UTMC and Toledo Clinic centered upon the Dana Cancer Center, but additional opportunities to address physician shortages at UTMC, due to forced transfer of doctors to ProMedica Toledo Hospital, must also be on the table;
  5. Re-establish Level 2 trauma support status at UTMC as soon as possible, in conjunction with physician support from the Toledo Clinic Association.
  6. Carefully scrutinize and minimize inter-departmental cross-charges imposed upon UTMC to the main Bancroft St. UT campus. According to the recent State audit, UTMC had an operational profit between 2016-2018. However, cross-charges caused an overall deficit, resulting in unsustainable financial strain on UTMC.
  7. Take steps to sustain the financial solvency of the University of Toledo Physicians (UTP) Group as a source of physician activity at UTMC.
  8. Support and market the COVID-19 test capacity of the UTMC Pathology Lab. Our research scientists developed a test that reliably provides results in 24-48 hours.
  9. Marketing! Marketing! Marketing! LET’S GET WITH IT, UTMC!
  10. The Neighborhood Health Association is very interested in being on our South Toledo campus. UTMC management, the Toledo Clinic, and NHA are developing excellent plans to increase cancer care at the Dana Cancer Center. Encourage them!
  11. We have major brand-name organizations in our immediate neighborhood: The Veterans Administration Clinic; The American Red Cross; the Area Office on Aging; the Ohio Mental Health Department — they should be encouraged to partner and expand within our Medical Center Campus. Dr. Michael Ellis of UTMC, and the Toledo Clinic, are developing resources so regional veterans may be treated at the Dana Center, instead of traveling to Ann Arbor. Save UTMC encourages and support these efforts.
  12. Area labor organizations are supporting Save UTMC. Let’s encourage their families to find a home on our campus, and with our doctors and hospital.
  13. Public Television is also adjacent to our campus. The last three months have introduced our national family to continuous discussions of not only Corona virus, but health and wellness in general. Let’s explore a professional relationship with WGTE Channel 30 – perhaps weekly talk programs, covering what is current, timely, and featuring interviews with doctors, nurses, and staff—all focused upon improving Toledoans health and well-being.

The Save UTMC Coalition is looking ahead, knowing full well that community partnerships and increased revenue are necessary to move the medical campus forward.

We are confident our best and hopes and aspirations can be realized – if we all work together!

Carty Finkbeiner, Former Mayor of Toledo – Coordinator
Matt Cherry, President, Toledo City Council
Kevin Dalton, President, Toledo Federation of Teachers
Randy Desposito, President, AFSCME Local #2415
Shaun Enright, President, Greater NWO AFL-CIO
Teresa Fedor, Ohio State Senator
Theresa M. Gabriel, Executive Board NAACP, and Former Toledo Councilwoman
Paula Hicks-Hudson, Ohio State Representative and Former Mayor of Toledo
Rob Ludeman, At-Large Toledo City Councilman
John McSweeney, Ph.D., Professor of Psychiatry, UTMC
Sean Nestor, Treasurer, Save UTMC
Erika D. White, President CWA Local #4319
James C. Willey, M.D., Professor of Medicine, UTMC
Eric Zgodzinski, Commissioner, Toledo-Lucas County Health Department

Honorary Chairman, Marcy Kaptur, U.S. Representative

Blade Editorial: Saving UTMC: One step

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Note: this editorial was published in the July 17, 2020 edition of the Toledo Blade.

The collective sigh of relief you just heard in Toledo came after the University of Toledo announced it is no longer entertaining proposals to sell, lease, or outsource the management of the University of Toledo Medical Center.

The decision followed four months of shock, anger, and citizen action, which began when university officials announced that the former Medical College of Ohio hospital was running a $25 million deficit, which forced UT to consider drastic options.

What the university didn’t say was that it had caused the deficit.

The university’s board and acting president deserve credit for changing their minds and doing the right thing.

Thanks to the efforts of the Save UTMC Coalition and a few local politicians, federal state and local (Rep. Marcy Kaptur and former Mayor Carty Finkbeiner, in particular, deserve props), the university now says it will instead focus its efforts on stabilizing UTMC’s finances and preserving a hospital in South Toledo.

Cheers all around, but this is just the first step in saving UTMC. Whether the hospital can survive long term depends on what happens next.

First, the audit that hospital-sale critics have been demanding must go forward, regardless of Thursday’s announcement. The five-year-old affiliation agreement with ProMedica and its impact on UTMC’s operations requires thorough scrutiny to understand how the hospital’s finances got to be as bad as they are now.

Without such an audit, how will UT officials have the information they need to find a way to make it profitable in the future?

Second, the hospital’s staffing, which has been depleted in recent years, must be replenished. The specialty services that have been moved to ProMedica Toledo Hospital must be restored, and UT officials should consider upgrading the trauma center to a level one facility.

How does the hospital find a way forward without adequate staff and other resources?

Finally, UTMC must have its own board, separate from the University of Toledo board of trustees. It would be advisory, not governing, like the Wexner Medical Center affiliated with the Ohio State University. UTMC needs a board that understands medicine and science and the economies of modern hospitals. Some entity must exist that protects UTMC and actually advocates for the institution.

It does not exist now.

So, a battle is won. But the effort to save and enhance the medical college and its teaching hospital has just begun.

Kaptur, Save UTMC Coalition Statement After University of Toledo Decision to Stay the Sale of UTMC

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Toledo, OH – Today, Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur (OH-09) and members of the Save UTMC Coalition, including state Senator Teresa Fedor (D-Toledo) and former Toledo Mayor Carty Finkbeiner, released the following statement in response to the announcement that the University of Toledo will indefinitely postpone the Request for Proposals (RFP) process issued for its medical center:

“I am thankful the University of Toledo Board and UT Interim President Dr. Gregory Postel have answered our community’s call to stay the sale of UTMC‘S Teaching Hospital and emptying out of its publicly-financed academic research and medical campus. This entire situation demands full sunlight and an accounting to our citizenry,” said Rep. Kaptur.

“Divesting or dramatically emptying out operations at northwest Ohio’s only public hospital during a public health emergency in my view would not only be a mistake, but a moral injustice. This campus serves as a major hub for advancing health outcomes, spurring innovation for economic growth, and linking to medically underserved areas in our tristate region,” Kaptur added.

“Significant federal funding through the CARES Act, which I fully supported, has recently been delivered to UTMC. To date, more than $21.5 million in CARES direct funding has been directed to UTMC. This means the hospital has been provided bridge funding to the future. In addition, realigned federal and state sponsored care reimbursements, a dedicated, hardworking physician and medical corps of professionals and an interim president who understands the importance of academic medical research, the hospital’s financials will improve,” continued Kaptur.

“While today’s decision is a step in the right direction, there remain too many unanswered questions. A complete audit covering the pre and post 2015 period at the University will better enable us to determine how UTMC’s financial standing has become so dire,” concluded Kaptur.

“This is a reasonable move amid the financial status of the university. There will be many challenges ahead and we look forward to working together,” said state Senator Teresa Fedor. “We have made great strides towards saving our public hospital, and to continue that work, we must maintain our status as a teaching and research institution. This is not an asset to be trifled with. We have seen what the hospital can do when it came to forging the path for COVID-19 testing in the region.”

“The delay will give UTMC time to identify and finalize partnerships with important allies such as the Toledo Clinic. Such a partnership would help UTMC replace more of the doctors who moved to ProMedica and enhance healthcare for the region. The delay also could help the Save UTMC Coalition find answers to the questions surrounding the flow of funds in and out of the hospital and determine the net worth of this important state asset,” former Toledo Mayor Carty Finkbeiner said.

Northwest Ohio legislators were scheduled to meet today with Ohio Auditor Keith Faber’s office.

The University of Toledo stated one reason for this decision was the public scrutiny surrounding a 50-year academic affiliation agreement between ProMedica and UT for its College of Medicine and Life Sciences (COM&LS). The agreement was initiated as a way to improve the university’s finances and help advance the COM&LS’s academic and research mission. However, the Save UTMC Coalition argues that the agreement has only exacerbated the university’s financial issues.

Blade: University of Toledo no longer looking to sell or lease UTMC

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University of Toledo announced Thursday it was no longer considering proposals to purchase, lease, or manage the UT Medical Center and would instead focus on stabilizing the former Medical College of Ohio Hospital’s fiscal challenges.

“We recognize the important role of the hospital in our community and are doing our due diligence to address the impact of the hospital’s current financial condition on the University enterprise, while thoughtfully determining the best long-term solution,” Mr. Postel said.

Click here to read the full article

News Release 7/14/2020: Game Plan for July-December 2020

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Thank you for the energy and brain power you’ve invested in our collective efforts to stabilize and grow the South Toledo medical campus and UTMC Hospital.

Dr. Gregory Postel has taken the reins as the University of Toledo’s Interim President, and Al Baker has been appointed Chairman of the Board of Trustees. This is the appropriate time, I believe, to put on paper our vision and plan to support and enhance the campus and its hospital on Arlington Ave.

With great respect for the ideas and priorities of all invested in Save UTMC, we offer the following: 

  1. We oppose any plan to sell, transfer, or co-manage UTMC to/with ProMedica, or any other hospital system, until all details of such a deal are made public, and time is provided for appropriate review and community input.
  1. On July 1, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost halted transfers of physicians and programs from UTMC to ProMedica Toledo Hospital for 90 days. Based upon anti-competitive constrictions written into the 2015 Affiliation Agreement between UT and ProMedica, the ban on transfers should remain in place until all UTMC stakeholders’ concerns are addressed.
  1. As for the Affiliation Agreement, we support the initiative of State Senator Teresa Fedor with AG Yost, and ask UT leadership to invoke arbitration if ongoing, anti-competitive decisions are not ended, and past harmful actions are not corrected. 
  1. We request that negotiations between current UTMC management and Toledo Clinic officials be encouraged and supported by UT administration and trustees, and that doctors of both institutions be welcomed to practice at both campuses as respective services are needed. Initial discussions between UTMC and Toledo Clinic centered upon the Dana Cancer Center, but additional opportunities to address physician shortages at UTMC, due to forced transfer of doctors to ProMedica Toledo Hospital, must also be on the table;
  1. Re-establish Level 2 trauma support status at UTMC as soon as possible, in conjunction with physician support from the Toledo Clinic Association.

  2. Carefully scrutinize and minimize inter-departmental cross-charges imposed upon UTMC to the main Bancroft St. UT campus. According to the recent State audit, UTMC had an operational profit between 2016-2018. However, cross-charges caused an overall deficit, resulting in unsustainable financial strain on UTMC.

  3. Take steps to sustain the financial solvency of the University of Toledo Physicians (UTP) Group as a source of physician activity at UTMC.

  4. Support and market the COVID-19 test capacity of the UTMC Pathology Lab. Our research scientists developed a test that reliably provides results in 24-48 hours.

  5. Marketing! Marketing! Marketing! LET’S GET WITH IT, UTMC!

  6. The Neighborhood Health Association (NHA) is very interested in being on our South Toledo campus. UTMC management, the Toledo Clinic, and NHA are developing excellent plans to increase cancer care at the Dana Cancer Center. Encourage them!

  7. We have major brand-name organizations in our immediate neighborhood: The Veterans Administration Clinic; The American Red Cross; the Area Office on Aging; the Ohio Mental Health Department— they should be encouraged to partner and expand within our Medical Center Campus. Dr. Michael Ellis of UTMC, and the Toledo Clinic, are developing resources so regional veterans may be treated at the Dana Center, instead of traveling to Ann Arbor. Save UTMC encourages and support these efforts.

  8. Area labor organizations are supporting Save UTMC. Let’s encourage their families to find a home on our campus, and with our doctors and hospital.

  9. Public Television is also adjacent to our campus. The last three months have introduced our national family to continuous discussions of not only Corona virus, but health and wellness in general. Let’s explore a professional relationship with WGTE Channel 30 – perhaps weekly talk programs, covering what is current, timely, and featuring interviews with doctors, nurses, and staff—all focused upon improving Toledoans health and wellbeing.

The Save UTMC Coalition is looking ahead, knowing full well that community partnerships and increased revenue is necessary to move the medical campus forward. We stand ready to work together with all concerned parties to SAVE UTMC!

Modern Healthcare: Ohio lawmakers question University of Toledo Medical Center, ProMedica affiliation

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Note: this article was published on the web site of Modern Healthcare

Ohio policymakers continue to scrutinize an academic affiliation between University of Toledo Medical Center and ProMedica, claiming that ProMedica has ulterior motives that will decimate the academic medical center.

ProMedica and the University of Toledo College of Medicine and Life Sciences signed a 50-year academic affiliation agreement in 2015, which allowed UT students and residents to train at ProMedica as well as provide financial support to “ensure the long-term strength and expansion of educational and financial opportunities for the University’s College of Medicine and Life Sciences,” the university wrote in its 2019 earnings report. Critics of the deal have countered that the affiliation will gut the medical center as ProMedica siphons off its physicians and the most profitable services.

“What is becoming clear is this deal stinks,” Ohio Sen. Teresa Fedor (D-Toledo) said during a press conference Wednesday. “It favors ProMedica over UTMC. It has systematically taken assets and profits from UTMC—a public teaching and research hospital—and transferred them to ProMedica, a private hospital.”

Lawmakers called the press conference to urge the state auditor to conduct a deeper audit of how the University of Toledo Medical Center’s finances have been affected by its academic affiliation with ProMedica, claiming the agreement may be hurting the facility.

Former Toledo Mayor Carty Finkbeiner said he supports a forensic audit of UTMC’s finances and the affiliation agreement.

“It’s important to get a very thorough review of the fiscal relationship between the University of Toledo, its medical college and ProMedica,” he told Modern Healthcare. “I am not sure that the community at large has a clear picture of that fiscal partnership.”

ProMedica said in a statement that the academic affiliation was thoroughly vetted by both parties and reviewed by the state attorney general’s antitrust division in 2015.

“The terms of the academic affiliation have been available to the public online since its inception,” the Toledo, Ohio-based not-for-profit health system said. “Both parties continue to adhere to the terms as outlined to enrich the quality of medical education and expand clinical training capacity in Toledo.”

The affiliation agreement required all but orthopedics, family medicine and psychiatry faculty and residents to move their practices to ProMedica’s flagship hospital, UTMC psychiatry professor Dr. Daniel Rapport said in a recent complaint with the Federal Trade Commission.

That was set to change on July 1, when UTMC was planning to transfer its orthopedic services to ProMedica. But Ohio Attorney General David Yost halted the transfer for 90 days.

The University of Toledo Medical Center reported a $8.3 million operating loss on operating revenue of $295.5 million in 2019, down from a $685,000 operating profit on operating revenue of $304 million in 2018, according to HMP Metrics.

“Essentially, after robbing UTMC of its doctors, residents and patients, and driving it to insolvency, it (ProMedica) has now swept in to offer to manage the hospital it has decimated financially,” the complaint reads. “This is anti-competitive. It would place them in charge of the University Hospital to manage however they see fit.”

Fedor and her congressional peers also accused Faber of being too quick to dismiss a whistleblower’s complaint that alleged two UT Board of Trustees intentionally harmed the public hospital and helped ProMedica. The complaint alleges possible felonies, conflicts of interest and breaches of fiduciary duty involving former UT Trustee Steve Cavanaugh and current UT Trustee Mary Ellen Pisanelli, who championed the agreement.

Cavanaugh is now the chief financial officer of ProMedica, which acquired HCR ManorCare in 2018. He was an executive with HCR ManorCare in 2013 when HCR ManorCare began its business association with ProMedica, which entered into public contract negotiations with the University of Toledo in 2014. He did not list any conflicts of interest when he applied for a seat on the University of Toledo Board of Trustees, public records show.

Cavanaugh said there was no reason to recuse himself from the 2015 vote on the academic affiliation agreement, which was part of a public competitive bidding process run by an outside consultant. Even if he had recused himself, the outcome would have been unchanged, he said, noting that the affiliation was reviewed by the attorney general and were made public.

“The ProMedica acquisition of HCR ManorCare happened in 2018 and had no relation to the academic affiliation agreement,” Cavanaugh said in a statement. “Before the acquisition closing, I sought guidance from the Ohio Ethics Commission regarding my ongoing involvement on the UToledo Board that included a detailed review of the acquisition and my role with ProMedica. I followed the guidance The Ohio Ethics Commission provided.”

Ohio Auditor Keith Faber didn’t complete a full performance audit of the UTMC-ProMedica affiliation agreement after the university declined the request, but several lawmakers said in a letter Tuesday that was not good practice. A comprehensive financial review may have helped explain “why the agreement, marketed as a means of improving the finances at the University of Toledo College of Medicine, is having the opposite effect,” Fedor and state Reps. Paula Hicks-Hudson (D-Toledo), Lisa Sobecki (D-Toledo) and Mike Sheehy (D-Oregon) wrote in a letter to Faber Tuesday.

While Faber said in the June 22 review that he couldn’t make meaningful recommendations in that initial, cursory audit, the lawmakers criticized Faber for essentially asking UTMC for permission to do a thorough review, claiming that is not necessary.

The Ohio State Auditor’s office said it had not received the policymakers’ letter.

“We can recall no legitimate instance in which a law enforcement agency such as yours allowed an entity under review to set the parameters of that review,” the letter reads. “That arrangement, however, appears to be how your office repeatedly handled allegations of felonies, financial irregularities and conflicts of interest involving the academic affiliation agreement between ProMedica and the University of Toledo for the UT College of Medicine and Life Sciences.”

Also at the news conference, lawmakers unveiled a recent letter to the UT Dean of the College of Medicine from UTMC Professor Dr. James Willey. Willey cited Faber’s audit findings that suggest UTMC made a profit from 2016 to 2018 but interdepartmental transfers caused the medical college to operate in the red.

Willey focused on the estimated $30 million that Medicare paid annually to help fund graduate medical education, asking if the payments were “used by UToledo to support resident training or were they used for some other purpose?”

If used for another purpose, it would undermine the medical school’s ability “to meet their educational obligations to resident training,” he wrote.

Bob Baxter, the president of Toledo-based Mercy Health North, wrote to the Ohio Department of Higher Education that the UTMC-ProMedica affiliation is jeopardizing UTMC.

“Mercy Health has witnessed, through the veil of medical education, the systematic relocation of UTMC’s residents—and the faculty charged with training such residents—away from UTMC and on to the campus of a market competitor,” he wrote. “From our perspective, such relocation has taken UTMC from a vibrant and thriving academic medical institution training hundreds of residents a year to a failing hospital in just over five years.”

Mercy Health said it explored responding to the university’s request for proposal, but it didn’t see how Mercy could help stabilize UTMC. Even if it did reply to the RFP, the affiliation agreement “grants ProMedica broad rights that effectively undercut any offer submitted to the University of Toledo for UTMC.”

Blade: Lawmakers call for thorough UTMC financial audit

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Alleging potential mismanagement, northwest Ohio lawmakers have called for a complete audit of the University of Toledo Medical Center’s finances.

At a Wednesday news conference, state Senator Teresa Fedor and state Representatives Paula Hicks-Hudson, Michael Sheehy, and Lisa Sobecki criticized the 50-year academic affiliation agreement signed between the University of Toledo Medical Center and ProMedica in 2015. The move comes after Ohio Auditor Keith Faber released a cursory audit on June 22 that the lawmakers say was inadequate and left many questions unanswered.

Click here to read the full article

Letter from the Northwest Ohio Legislative Delegation to Ohio Auditor Keith Faber

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Note: A PDF of this letter can be seen and downloaded here.

Dear Auditor Faber:

We can recall no legitimate instance in which a law enforcement agency such as yours allowed an entity under review to set the parameters of that review. That arrangement, however, appears to be how your office repeatedly handled allegations of felonies, financial irregularities and conflicts of interest involving the academic affiliation agreement between ProMedica and the University of Toledo for the UT College of Medicine and Life Sciences.

Your office recently conducted a cursory audit that you concede left many “unanswered questions,’’ and you publicly stated that UT officials declined your recommendation for a full performance audit that could help explain why the agreement, marketed as a means of improving the finances at the University of Toledo College of Medicine, is having the opposite effect. As you stated in a June 22 letter accompanying your findings: “A performance audit may have elicited additional information and provided the Auditor of State with the ability to make meaningful observations and recommendations regarding the financial status and operations of the medical center and affiliation agreement.”

The Auditor of State does not need UT’s permission to examine how it has been spending the public’s money. As your website clearly states, “Any public or quasi-public entity in Ohio that receives funds from or through the state may request a performance audit. The Auditor of State’s office may also elect to exercise statutory authority and conduct a performance audit of an organization.’’

Even your cursory audit generated new financial questions and concerns among doctors. In a June 29 letter to the Dean of the College of Medicine, UTMC Professor Dr. James Willey cited your audit findings that suggest UTMC made a profit in 2016-2018 but interdepartmental transfers caused the medical college to operate in the red. The bulk of Dr. Willey’s letter centers on an estimated $30 million that Medicare paid annually to help fund Graduate Medical Education. The letter asks if the payments were “used by UToledo to support resident training or were they used for some other purpose?’’ If used for another purpose, it would undermine the medical school’s ability “to meet their educational obligations to resident training,’’ according to Dr. Willey’s letter, which is attached.

We are officially requesting your office conduct a forensic audit and performance audit of the agreement. These audits must determine the status of UTMC’s finances before the affiliation agreement, the impact the agreement has had on UTMC and answer the specific questions raised in Dr. Willy’s June 29 letter.

Your failure to produce an audit that answers these questions marks the second time that you have been dismissive of serious allegations about the affiliation agreement’s purpose or effect.

In March 2019 – 16 months ago – your office received an official complaint from a whistleblower and UTMC physician. The complaint centers on the 50-year affiliation agreement signed in 2015. It alleges possible felonies, conflicts of interest and breaches of fiduciary duty involving two UT Trustees who championed the agreement, Stephen Cavanaugh and Mary Ellen Pisanelli. While serving as Trustees for a state college supported by taxpayers, both Trustees had a fiduciary duty to UT but also had strong financial ties to ProMedica and helped advance the agreement in ways that hurt UTMC. Gov. John Kasich appointed both Trustees.

As the whistleblowing physician pointed out, soon after Cavanaugh’s appointment as a Trustee, Cavanaugh donated $500,000 to UT. About two years after his appointment, Cavanaugh became chairman of the UT Board of Trustees and continued to help steer the affiliation agreement in favor of ProMedica. In 2018, ProMedica paid approximately $4 billion to rescue Cavanaugh’s employer, HRC ManorCare from bankruptcy. In 2019, ProMedica made Cavanaugh its CFO and soon after he resigned from the Board of Trustees and cited “conflicts of interest.”

Pisanelli succeeded him as chair of the trustees. Gov. Kasich appointed her to the Board of Trustees in 2015 while she was a partner at a law firm that counted ProMedica among its more important clients. In March 2017, while still serving as a trustee, Pisanelli left the law firm to become senior vice president at Welltower, a real estate investment trust, that had partnered with ProMedica under a complex deal to wipe out HRC ManorCare’s debts. Soon after, Welltower gave $30 million to the University of Toledo. The following year, Pisanelli became chair of the UT Board of Trustees.

In his March 26, 2019, complaint to your office, the whistleblower asks these questions:

  • Did the $500,000 “charitable” gift (from Cavanaugh) lead to $7.1 billion in debt relief? Did Cavanaugh steer the UT-ProMedica contract in favor of ProMedica/HRC ManorCare in exchange for $7.1 billion in corporate debt relief for Cavanaugh’s HRC ManorCare?
  • Was that $30 million payment from Welltower to UT “a bribe or equivalent illegal payment’’ as defined by Ohio law?

Your office referred these questions to the Ohio Inspector General – who dismissed the case and said, “The Ohio Ethics Commission stated that prior to entering into business agreements with ProMedica both Trustee Cavanaugh and Trustee Pisanelli sought advisory opinions with the Commission.” Neither you nor the IG pointed out that the advisory opinions were requested in May 2018 – several years after the alleged conflicts of interest began. Moreover, the advisory opinion clearly states that the “business relationships between the Trustees and ProMedica was (sic) permissible, provided the Trustees recused themselves from voting on any matter which directly affected ProMedica.’’

Cavanaugh voted at least two times to advance the deal with ProMedica.

Since you declined to properly investigate these matters, we have come into possession of public records that raise new questions about Mr. Cavanaugh’s appointment as a UT Trustee. Gov. Kasich appointed Cavanaugh on April 15, 2014. The person who recommended Cavanaugh was none other than his boss, HRC ManorCare CEO Paul Ormond. In an email to long-time Kasich adviser Jai Chabria, Ormond wrote, “Governor Kasich called me twice this week, and one of the subjects he brought up was the need to find top candidates for the University of Toledo Board of Trustees…. ‘’ Ormond alluded to Gov. Kasich’s knowledge of UTMC’s financial issues in the same email: “Sorry to be so long in this message, but the Governor encouraged me to share this with you because of the very real challenges UT is dealing with and the need to have strong and capable Trustees to help lead the university through its tough road ahead.’’

Soon after, Gov. Kasich appointed HRC ManorCare COO Cavanaugh to the UT Board of Trustees. The records do not show whether Gov. Kasich and his former Wall Street ally, Jai Chabria, positioned or encouraged the Trustees to favor ProMedica over UTMC.

Still, Cavanaugh’s April 8, 2014, application for the appointment raises red flags. He checked the NO box when asked, “Do you have, or have you had, any personal, financial or business interest or dealings that might pose a conflict of interest with your proposed state appointment?’’

As early as 2012, however, HRC ManorCare and ProMedica had agreed to partner on a nursing home and rehab center, meaning that Cavanaugh was compromised the day he became a Trustee.

Although Gov. Kasich also appointed Pisanelli as a Trustee, the archivist handling his gubernatorial records could find no application from Pisanelli for her appointment.

Please let us know at your earliest convenience when you plan to begin these audits and who you have tasked to conduct them.

Sincerely,

Senator Teresa Fedor Representative Paula Hicks-Hudson
Ohio Senate District 11 Ohio House District 44
Representative Lisa Sobecki Representative Mike Sheehy
Ohio House District 45 Ohio House District 46

CC:
Randy Gardner, Chancellor of Higher Education
Save UTMC Coalition