|
|
US
section
Diaverum
(New Name for Gambro Healthcare)
|
|
CONTENTS
Gambro
international
History
Gambro was founded in
Lund, Sweden in 1964 soon after the first artificial kidney was invented
by Holger Crafoord
who felt he had to "develop and market
this life saving innovation". It commenced its international expansion
in the 1970s and was publicly listed in 1983. It sold blood products and
renal care products as well as providing dialysis services.
Gambro grew by acquisitions
and purchases and by 2001 was one of the major providers of dialysis
services in the USA and many other countries. The
extent of the dialysis business is described by Gambro in a 2001 legal
dispute.
|
May 2001 Gamdro's operations
|
Founded in 1964, Complainant has offices and facilities in more than 40
countries throughout the world, and employs approximately 18,000 employees.
Complainant owns and operates more than 580 dialysis clinics, serving over
44,000 patients worldwide. The majority of Complainant's clinics (over 80%)
are located in the U.S., including 11 clinics in Illinois where Respondent
is located.
In 2001 Gambro claimed that it operated 580 dialysis clinics, most in the
USA. After its second major US fraud settlement in 2004, Gambro sold its
565 US clinics to Davita.
Gambro itself fell into
the hands of major financiers in 2006. In July 2007 they sold Gambro
Healthcare's remaining 155 clinics to private equity firm Bridgepoint.
A new name
In 2006 Gambro was sold
to a financial consortium. In 2007 it onsold Gambro Healthcare, the subsidiary
providing dialysis services to Bridgepoint, a private equity firm. This
tarnished business was renamed "Diaverum". As
with other tarnished organizations, the new name was chosen in order
to claim exactly those attributes
that had been so conspicuous by their absence in the past. Experience
and their own past conduct suggests that this might not stop them offending
again (eg. Tenet Healtrhcare)
Diaverum (previously Gambro Healthcare) operates in Argentina, Uruguay,
France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden.
Turkey, United Kingdom and Australia.
The Nordic region's leading investment companies made a bid of 38.26 billion
Swedish kronor ($4.85 billion) for Gambro AB, a Stockholm-based medical-technology
group.
Investor AB, controlled by Sweden's Wallenberg family, and EQT, controlled
by Investor, said their 111-kronor-a-share cash offer has been recommended
by Gambro's board of directors and presents a premium of 30.5% to the average
share price of 85 kronor for the past three months.
---------------------
The cash comes from Gambro's sale in December of its U.S. dialysis clinics
to DaVita Inc. for $3.05 billion. Those clinics had offered the U.S. government
a $310 million settlement of U.S. Medicaid-fraud allegations. Gambro then
switched its focus on clinics outside the country and on renal care and blood
products. The company ranks third world-wide for sales of renal-care products,
- - -
Gambro Gets a $4.85 Billion Bid From a Nordic Investment Group The
Wall Street Journal April 26, 2006
|
Apr 2007 Selling off dialysis clinic business
|
Sweden's billionaire Wallenberg family is leading a group that may sell
Gambro Healthcare, an owner of dialysis clinics in 15 countries, four people
with knowledge of the plan said.
-----------------
The family last year took over Gambro, the world's
largest maker of kidney dialysis products, in a transaction valued at $5.4
billion. The Wallenbergs had owned 19.9 percent of the company before they
made the purchase with EQT Partners AB, a Stockholm-based buyout firm partly
owned by the family.
-----------------
-
- - - - and the health-care division operates facilities in Europe, South
America, Asia
and Australia.
Private equity firm Bridgepoint said today that it has signed an agreement
to buy Gambro Healthcare.
----------------------
Gambro currently has 155 dialysis clinics in 15 countries.
Bridgepoint buys Gambro Healthcare Renal
Business Today May 7, 2007
Gambro Healthcare has been operating as an independent company since July
2007, 100% focused on renal services. As a consequence, Gambro Healthcare
is now changing name to Diaverum. Dag Andersson, formerly Mšlnlycke Healthcare,
has been appointed CEO and assumes responsibility January 7, 2008.
----------------------
Diaverum
is a name with two key facets. The first part, ÔdiaÕ, represents
DiaverumÕs core activity, dialysis, and signals that Diaverum focuses exclusively
on renal services. The second part ÔverumÕ means truth in Latin. Hence
this new name is symbolic of the honesty, transparency and reliability
that the
company will continue to be known for.
Gambro Healthcare Becomes Diaverum and Introduces a New CEO Business Wire 7 January 2008
Gambro in the USA
Fraud Settlements
In March
2001 Renal Web <http://renalweb.groupee.net/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/5711014023/m/8841024023/inc/1>,
run by Gary Petersen, described the complex trail of fraud linking Transitional
Hospital Corporation (THC), Community Dialysis Centers, Damon Clinical
Laboratories
(US $119million settlement and exclusion from Medicare in 1996), Vivra
Incorporated, and finally Gambro which purchased Vivra in 1998.
Gambro was a recurrent
offender. Its first fraud settlement, in 2000, for US $53 million, involved
Vivra
and Gambro services. Among the many charges
were doing unnecessary laboratory tests and violating kickback laws. Gambro
entered into a 5 year corporate integrity agreement.
|
July
2000 First fraud settlement US $53 million
|
The settlements with the GAMBRO companies resolve allegations that the firms
submitted false claims to Medicare, Medicaid and TRICARE - the Defense Department's
health care program -- for laboratory services. The allegations are that
the services were provided by GHLSI's Ft. Lauderdale, Florida laboratory
and DHLSI's Deland, Florida laboratory (formerly known as Vivra Laboratory)
to End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) patients.
---------------------
"The corporate integrity agreement provides important safeguards to prevent
misconduct and requires ongoing monitoring of the companies to help ensure compliance
with federal health care program requirements," Inspector General
June Gibbs Brown said.
GAMBRO HEALTHCARE, INC. AGREES TO PAY $53 MILLION FOR OVERCHARGING
MEDICARE, MEDICAID & TRICARE FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE July 2000 http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2000/July/399civ.htm
It says little for the
5 year corporate integrity agreement that Gambro reached a much larger
US $350
million civil and criminal settlement of a
whistle blower initiated action in 2004 after only 4 years. A subsidiary
was disqualified from Medicare payments. Charges included kickbacks
to physicians and overcharging.
|
Dec 2004 Second fraud settlement US $350.5 million
|
Gambro Healthcare, with main offices in Nashville and Denver, acknowledged
criminal and civil liability for overcharging for services and making kickbacks
to physicians in violation of federal rules, officials said.
---------------------
"Missouri's Medicaid program was put in place as a safety net for those
individuals who find themselves without medical care," Nixon said. "For
a company to steal from that program for their own financial gain is tantamount
to stealing from the church poor box."
Health care firm agrees to $350.5 million fraud penalty Post-Dispatch Dec. 02 2004
The civil settlement resolves allegations that Gambro Healthcare:
* Provided home dialysis patients equipment and supplies through
a ÒshellÓ durable medical equipment company, Gambro Supply, in violation
of Medicare regulations. By billing in this manner, Gambro received
a higher rate of reimbursement
than it would have received if it had directly submitted the claims
for payment. Also, emergency home dialysis supplies were not provided
as billed
by Gambro;
* Engaged in Òhard codingÓ of diagnostic codes on submitted
claims. This practice resulted in the submission of false statements
and bills being submitted for ancillary medications and services which were not
medically
necessary (bone density studies, nerve conduction studies, electrocardiograms,
carnitor, epogen, vitamin D and iron); and
* Hired and compensated physicians as medical directors for
their dialysis clinics based on the number and volume of anticipated
patient referrals to Gambro clinics. This conduct violated the Medicare Anti-Kickback
Act.
Gambro also violated the Anti-Kickback Act by entering into joint
venture relationships with physician partners. Again, GambroÕs contractual
dealings were premised upon the number and volume of anticipated
patient referrals.
Kickbacks of this type are prohibited to ensure that health care
providers do not make treatment decisions based upon improper financial
considerations
rather than the necessity, reasonableness, quality and effectiveness
of services.
Gambro Healthcare has corporate headquarters in Nashville, Tennessee and
Denver, Colorado. It is the third largest owner and operator of renal dialysis
clinics in the United States.
GAMBRO HEALTHCARE AGREES TO PAY OVER $350 MILLION TO RESOLVE
CIVIL & CRIMINAL
ALLEGATIONS IN MEDICARE FRAUD CASE FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE Department of Justice, December 2. 2004 http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2004/December/04_civ_774.htm
|
Mar
2005 Whistleblower becomes very wealthy
|
A St. Louis
doctor who blew the whistle on fraud at a major health care company will
get $56 million as his share of the government's settlement.
Doctor who exposed fraud will get $56 million The ex-medical director's
take is large, says the U.S. attorney, but his role was critical. St. Louis Post-Dispatch March 26, 2005
|
Apr 2006 States get their cut - comment on fraud
|
"...how
many patients received unnecessary testing, medications and equipment,
and how many patients
went
without services that were billed for?
Also, how much out-of-pocket money did patients lose in co-payments
as a result of bogus billings for services not rendered or for services
rendered
needlessly?"
--------------------
The 6th largest medical fraud case in US history was settled in December
2004 against Gambro Healthcare, for $325 million. At the time, Gambro was
the third largest operator of renal-dialysis clinics in the US. The settlement
period covered fraud that occurred from January 1, 1991, through September
30, 2004.
----------------------
Upon
receiving his state's portion of the settlement last fall,
Connecticut Attorney General, Richard
Blumenthal, said in a September 27, 2005 press release, "Gambro's
conduct was reprehensible. Their scams and schemes - including
kickbacks, unnecessary tests and billing fraud - stole precious
funds intended
to care for some of society's neediest patients."
------------------
In a move that seems kind of silly in hindsight, as part of the 2000 settlement,
Gambro entered into a 5-year integrity agreement with the Department of Health
and Human Services' Office of Inspector General.
---------------
In light of the recent $300 million plus 2004 settlement, its probably safe
to assume that signing the "integrity agreement" was
a meaningless gesture on the part of Gambro.
However, for whatever its worth, if anything, Gambro was required
to sign another "integrity agreement" as part of the
December 2004 settlement.
Gambro Healthcare - Dialysis Fraud Pays Big Buck Media
Monitors Network April 2, 2006 http://usa.mediamonitors.net/content/view/full/28817
---------------------
No sooner
had Gambro agreed to the US$350 million settlement and entered into an
integrity agreement, than it received a subpoena relating to another
alleged
fraud.
|
Nov 2004 Another fraud investigation
|
Gambro Healthcare Inc., a subsidiary of the Swedish
company Gambro AB, received its subpoena Friday night.
-----------------
The
investigation apparently centers around testing for parathyroid hormone (or
PTH) levels and vitamin D therapies. Patients with kidney disease have
their PTH level monitored to see if they need more vitamin
D.
Gambro Healthcare is subpoenae Denver
Business Journal Denver Business Journal November 8, 2004 http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/stories/2004/11/08/daily1.html
to
contents
Selling to DaVita
Were they
found to have re-offended after breeching 2 previous integrity agreements
Gambro would almost certainly have been barred from providing Medicare
services - so putting them out of business.
Gambro sold
their US dialysis business to DaVita, another group with
a tawdry history, for US $3 billion.
|
Dec 2004 Sells US dialysis business to DaVita
|
McDermott
Will & Emery
client DaVita Inc. (NYSE: DVA), announced that it has entered
into a definitive agreement to purchase the U.S. renal care
business of Sweden's Gambro Healthcare, for a total consideration
of approximately $3.05 billion in cash.
to
contents
Problems with Equipment
There have
been allegations and expressions of concern about Gambro equipment. These
are summarised in Media Monitors Network article "Gambro
Healthcare - Dialysis Fraud Pays Big Buck" April 2nd 2006. <http://usa.mediamonitors.net/content/view/full/28817>.
The article says that "Gambro also has a long history of causing death and
injury by producing faulty products".
The allegations
include shipping 6000 sets of defective tubing in 1998. This
caused haemolysis resulting in 4 deaths and problems in New York,
Nebraska, New Jersey, Alabama, Massachusetts and Maryland. In 2005
Gambra issued a "Worldwide Safety Alert" about its Prisma System
Dialysis machine. In 2006 the FDA claimed that this machine had caused
problems with deaths
and serious injuries. A ban was placed on Dialysis machines
made in its Italian factory because numerous violations had been
found at the plant. In
addition more than 90 incidences of serious problems with the device
had been reported to Gambro but these had not been reported to
the FDA. This
included deaths.
|
May 1998 Defective tubing
|
Defective tubing used to transmit blood to and from a dialysis machine is
believed to be the cause of illnesses reported in three states, including
two deaths in Maryland.
The company that makes the tubing issued a recall today, and dialysis centers
where dozens of patients became sick in Nebraska, Massachusetts and Maryland
shut down temporarily.
Dialysis Tubing Is Recalled After Reports of Two Deaths The New York Times May 26, 1998
Four hemodialysis patients died and at least 40 others required hospitalization
because of defective tubing that damaged their red blood cells, health officials
said here today.
Faulty Tubing Is Blamed For 4 Dialysis Deaths The
New York Times June 19, 1998
|
Apr
2006 Dialysis machines
unsafe - banned in USA
|
Gambro, which focuses on renal care, recently had some difficulties with
U.S. health authorities. In January, the Food and Drug Administration banned
the import of three of Gambro's kidney-treatment monitors, citing safety
concerns. The FDA found quality-control systems to be inadequate at the Italian
plant that makes the monitors.
Gambro Gets a $4.85 Billion Bid From a Nordic Investment Group The Wall Street Journal April 26, 2006
