Does anyone else suffer from “White Coat Hypertension?” A lot of people do. It’s the high blood pressure people get whenever they enter a medical office.
As a healthcare ethics keynote speaker, healthcare ethics consultant and author, I believe I have discovered one of the root causes for the “malady.” It’s those blasted video feeds that force-feed people about the latest medical devices and “greatest” drugs!
If you have ever wished they could turn off those videos, you may have finally gotten your revenge.
Outcome Health
My guess is that you have probably not heard of Outcome Health. The management of that company including the president, the COO and CFO, have just been convicted of a massive $1 billion case of fraud.
According to Yahoo Finance (April 12, 2023):
“The once-high-flying health-tech firm’s business mandate was simple: It billed pharmaceutical companies like (and including) Novo Nordisk to run their advertising on video screens in doctors’ offices and waiting rooms. But things got complicated because Outcome began fudging the numbers.”
The company consistently lied to customers about their abilities to reach doctors, patients and offices (and clinics). They “under-delivered on advertising campaigns” carried out for clients and allegedly invoiced on the basis of fake numbers. Every number was faked; from what was quoted to the marketing people at the companies who were their clients to independent auditors and accountants.
As the Department of Justice uncovered the fraud, the massive number of overbillings, debt financing (based on that fraud) and equity financing by companies such as Goldman Sachs was revealed. To list but a few:
Between 2011 and 2017, $45 million was overbilled; more than $500 million in debt financing on nonexistent numbers; $488 million in equity financing and let’s not forget “dividend” awards in the hundreds of millions.
Not alone
The CEO, President and CFO were in their early to mid-30s. While I would like to express shock at that, as a healthcare ethics keynote speaker, healthcare ethics consultant and author, I applaud innovation, technology and forward-looking genius however, far too often people who should think, don’t. People who should be paid to examine, analyze and study are far too willing to say, “These are young guys who really know technology.”
Recently, I commented on Elizabeth Holmes of Theranos and I can’t help but draw strong parallels. As a society, it’s fine to celebrate qualities such as innovation and forward thinking; it’s not acceptable to deify it.
The staff under these fraudsters were equally culpable and despite fancy titles such as
chief growth officer and senior analysts, they have all been found guilty of wire fraud and other financial crimes.
The company, from its start, cared more about running the scam than growing the organization. Now, of course, major investors are lined up against them. As the extent of the fraud becomes more widely known, it would appear as though the lies, rather than the services provided were more valued.
What is left of the company’s assets has been merged with a similar in-office video provider.
Elizabeth Holmes embraced the “fake it until you make it” mindset. However, Outcome Health didn’t even go that far in their lack of ethics. They could have never matched their rampant greed with their numbers.
Lack of oversite
In a larger sense, because oversite and legitimate audit were in such short supply, no one took the time to see through this charade. They weren’t delivering on actual results and it appears as though no one particularly cared.
The staff members who went along with this scam, at first pled guilty. They changed their pleas. Their arrogance (masked as ignorance) has also come around to consequences. The key scam artists, former classmates, are facing huge jail sentences. They could spend decades behind bars. It is difficult to show much compassion.
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