$1
million conflict of interest on hospital board? |
$1
million conflict of interest on hospital board?
A top state hospital regulator,
Bernard Weiner, and his son have collected more than $1 million in commissions
by selling insurance to hospitals Weiner oversees, records obtained by the
Chicago Sun-Times show. |
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Weiner, 72, has repeatedly
voted on requests from hospitals that help put money in his pocket as an
insurance broker. |
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Weiner says he sees no conflict
of interest because he judges hospital projects solely on merit. "If it's
a successful project, you vote for it," Weiner said. "If it's not,
you don't." |
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Weiner has been a close friend
since childhood of former Gov. George Ryan, who is now under federal indictment
on corruption charges. He once was treasurer of Ryan's campaign fund. |
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Weiner is a long time member of
the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board, which has been embroiled in
controversy. Last month, the Chicago Sun-Times reported that in a lawsuit filed
under seal, a former board member, millionaire Republican businessman Stuart
Levine, was accused of taking part in a shakedown scheme involving an expansion
request by Edward Hospital in Naperville. Last week, amid growing complaints
about the hospital planning board, Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan
called for the current nine board members to be fired. |
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Weiner called the controversy
"a real shockeroo." He has been on the board most of the time since
1980, being off briefly in 2003 until Gov. Blagojevich reappointed him on April
19. His term expires in July 2006. A Blagojevich spokeswoman wouldn't comment
on whether the governor was aware of Weiner's business dealings with hospitals
when he reappointed him. |
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But spokeswoman Cheryle Jackson
said, "We are in full support and plan to sign legislation that will
replace all board members. Replacing all board members will address concerns of
possible conflicts like this." |
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In recent years, Weiner's firm
has sold insurance to at least seven hospitals in the Chicago area, according
to available federal records. Those are Edward Hospital, MacNeal Hospital in
Berwyn, Northern Illinois Medical Centre in McHenry, the now-shuttered Rock
Creek Centre psychiatric hospital in Lemont, Rush-Copley Medical Centre in
Aurora, Rush North Shore Medical Centre in Skokie and Rush University Medical Centre
in Chicago. |
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Weiner said his firm, Weiner
Insurance, still works as the broker for Edward and the three Rush hospitals. |
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At Rush University Medical Centre,
spokesman John Pontarelli said the hospital has used Weiner Insurance since
1996 or 1997, that it's one of a few brokers serving the hospital and that the
work is awarded on the basis of competitive bids. |
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At Rush North Shore,
spokeswoman Diane Lato said hospital officials have dealt with David Weiner
since the mid-1990s, were unaware he was Bernard Weiner's son and routinely
review the broker's performance. |
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A spokesman for Edward would
not comment. |
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Weiner would not specify how
long he and his son had been selling insurance to hospitals or how much they
made over the years. But, from 1998 to 2002, Weiner and his son have taken in
more than $1 million in commissions, records show. More recent records were
unavailable. |
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In an interview last week,
Weiner said that years ago he had a staff member at the hospital planning board
check with the Illinois attorney general to see if there was a conflict for him
to vote on requests from hospitals he did business with. |
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"I checked with the
attorney general," Weiner said. "It was checked through our
staff." He said he learned "that there's no conflict." |
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Weiner said he could not
approximate when he checked this or whom he spoke with on the hospital planning
board's staff. |
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After his most recent
appointment to the board, Weiner said he decided to check again about any
potential conflicts, and this time was told to rescue himself -- which he did
-- on a vote involving Edward Hospital until the board's attorney could further
review the matter. |
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Previously, Weiner voted at
least nine times on matters involving hospitals he'd sold insurance to,
according to hospital planning board vote tallies starting in 2000. Weiner
usually was joining unanimous votes to approve a hospital's request. In at
least one instance, Weiner voted against a request by a hospital that his
company had sold insurance to. |
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During the interview, he at
first downplayed his contact with hospitals as their insurance broker. "We
don't deal with the hospitals," Weiner said. "We are brokers,
basically." |
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Later, Weiner acknowledged
having to deal with hospitals in his normal course of business. But he
adamantly denied ever pressuring any hospital to use him as a broker. "No,
of course not!" Weiner said. |
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The two hospital spokesmen from
the Rush system backed him up on that, saying their hospitals were not
pressured. |
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Weiner noted that the insurance
companies pay his company commissions, not the hospitals. |
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It's the amount of business the
hospitals give Weiner, though, that in part determines the amount of his
commissions. |
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Weiner sells life insurance,
dental insurance, long-term disability and other insurance to hospitals for
their employees. He said he typically receives a commission of less than 1
percent -- .15 percent, which would mean that, for every $100 of premium paid,
he gets 15 cents. |
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Industry experts said the usual
compensation, depending on the type of insurance, ranges from 2 percent to 10
percent. |
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Weiner, who lives in Kankakee,
said commissions from hospital-related insurance are "a small part"
of the business he and his son own -- Weiner Insurance. |
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Since 1998, Weiner and his son
have received more than $125,000 in commissions from insurance sold to Edward
Hospital, more than $9,500 from MacNeal Hospital business, more than $29,000
from Northern Illinois Medical Centre business, more than $225,000 from Rock
Creek Centre business, and more than $615,000 from Rush system hospital
business. |
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Weiner has been in the
insurance business for 44 years and been a member of professional organizations
recognizing his success, including the industry's Million Dollar Round Table. |
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The largest single commission
paid to his firm was $190,788 in 2000, for work on a health plan for 195
employees at Rock Creek Centre psychiatric hospital, according to publicly
available Internal Revenue Service records. That year, Rock Creek had a
proposal before the health facilities planning board to add beds -- a plan
Weiner and other board members approved. |
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Rock Creek closed in 2002,
reportedly amid a probe of alleged Medicare fraud and suspicious deaths. Its
former chief executive could not be reached for comment on Weiner's commission. |
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Weiner would not say how much
he made on the Rock Creek deal but scoffed at the amount reported. |
"That would have been
nice," Weiner said of the $190,788 figure. "I could have taken a trip
on that."
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