Financial turmoil at Caritas Christi

The physician group serving Boston's Caritas Christi Health Care system has replaced the acting chief of its physicians group in the midst of an accounting scandal. The 2,000-member physicians group, which auditors say overstated revenue by nearly $10 million, has been a money-loser for the system for several years. The system, which is run by the Archdiocese of Boston, has been in talks to transfer ownership of its six hospitals to Catholic hospital chain Ascension Health. As part of the transfer, Ascension has been going over Caritas Christi's books. Auditors found that the medical group overstated revenue by roughly $4 million for FY 2006 and $5.5 million for the first quarter of 2007. This comes as only the most recent problem for the health system, which was rocked last year by allegations that CEO Dr. Robert Haddad had inappropriately hugged female employees. Haddad was forced to resign.

To learn more about the problem:
- read this article in The Boston Globe

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