A Medical Device Daily
A countersuit has been filed against CorSolutions Medical (Rosemont, Illinois) and the company's CEO, Richard Vance, and general counsel, Michael Condron, by a former vice president, Pei Tang.
In the suit, Tang — formerly CorSolutions' vice president of informatics and outcomes management — charges that the company and the two officers retaliated against her after she submitted a report to the company's board describing alleged data manipulation and fraud by senior management. Among the potential victims of this fraud was the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS; Baltimore).
Tang filed her suit as a counter-claim after CorSolutions, she charges, sought to have her discharged from her new employer, and after it had filed its own lawsuit against her as part of that attempt.
Tang's complaint says that in the winter and spring of 2004, CorSolutions' senior management directed that data in the company's files be manipulated to make it appear that patient and physician satisfaction with the company's services were higher than actually measured. Tang also alleged that CorSolutions manipulated the figures to falsely portray to customers that certain contract performance guarantees had been achieved.
Tang presented alternatives to her management and board, which she said were rejected. According to the complaint, subsequent internal investigation confirmed significant portions of the report's allegations but thereafter, senior management engaged in retaliatory conduct and forced her to leave the firm.
CorSolutions currently holds two Medicare contracts with CMS. Other customers identified in the report as having been affected, or having been at risk of being affected, by the data manipulation were Premera Blue Cross (Seattle); the Medica Health Plans (Minnesota); HealthNet of California; and the Houston and Dallas school districts in Texas.
After Tang left CorSolutions and began working for her new employer, she said CorSolutions engaged in conduct intended to cause her termination and prevent her from working with any company in the field of disease management.
CorSolutions is involved in the business of disease management, including the provision of healthcare techniques intended to achieve cost reductions for health plans and employers.
Tang is represented by attorneys of Andrew Grosso and Associates (Washington) and partners of Robinson, Curley & Clayton (Chicago).
In other legalities, PharmaStem Therapeutics (Wayne, Pennsylvania) reported filing a motion in federal court in the Northern District of California against Cord Blood Registry (CBR Systems; San Bruno, California), requesting the court to enjoin CBR from continuing its alleged infringement of PharmaStem's most recently issued patents, nos. 6,461,645 and 6,569,427.
In particular, PharmaStem said, it seeks “to enjoin and restrain CBR from cryopreserving and storing cord blood for therapeutic use in hematopoietic reconstitution.“