White House health reform director Nancy-Ann DeParle is in a tight spot. A new investigative report has concluded that DeParle earned more than $6 million serving on the boards of major healthcare corporations, some of which have been accused of fraud, mismanagement and regulatory violations during her service there.
While there's no evidence she was aware of or involved in allegedly illegal activities, she served in three cases on board committees overseeing the companies' legal and regulatory compliance. That certainly doesn't look good, regardless of what actually happened, particularly given her rep as a progressive.
One example of the problem was her involvement as director and compliance committee member at DaVita Inc., which has been subject to investigations into its billing and drug-prescribing practices. She also served in a similar role at medical equipment supplier Guidant, whose execs apparently knew of cases in which its devices failed but never disclosed those failures.
To learn more about these issues:
- read this Kaiser Health News piece