11/5/2023 0 Comments Galloway staying afloatHere's how the hospital's new management appear to have managed its turnaround, according to documents and hospital and court records NPR obtained: "It appears that Putnam County Memorial Hospital is being used as a shell company for questionable lab activity that's occurring across the country," Galloway said in an interview after releasing the audit.Īccording to Galloway's report, Putnam hospital had started acting as a reference lab, and billing insurance for tests, including many performed elsewhere. By comparison, the audit reported, the hospital had generated just $7.5 million the year before.īut little of that revenue was staying with the hospital, according to Missouri auditor Nicole In six months, Putnam Memorial generated $92 million in revenue. The new management had dramatic effects on the hospital's finances, according to a report from the Missouri state auditor. David Byrns, co-owner of Hospital Partners, became Putnam County Memorial's CEO. Then in September 2016, Florida-based management company, Hospital Partners Inc., which Perez co-owns, took over operation of the hospital. It had scrambled back from the brink of bankruptcy in 2011, but budgets were still tight. had struggled to stay in business for several years. Putnam County Memorial hospital, a 25-bed critical access hospital, in Unionville, Mo. ![]() Two and half hours drive north of Fulton, another Missouri rural hospital was nearing closure when one of Perez's companies stepped in. "Part of our secret sauce is that we will bring in new services that didn't exist before," Perez said in an interview following the event in Fulton last September.īut an investigation by NPR and its reporting partners uncovered a pattern of controversial business practices by management companies with ties to Perez, which can lead to big profits for the management companies, but high risks for vulnerable hospitals. A serial entrepreneur with a background in IT, he's known for coming in to rural hospitals on the brink of closure with a promise to turn them around. By the end of this year, he says, he wants to own 50 of them. He and his business partners own or manage nearly 20 rural hospitals in Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Florida and elsewhere. Yet despite their typically slim operating margins, Perez has been buying them. At least voters now know where they stand with him.KBIA/Side Effects Public Media Jorge Perez addresses a crowded city council chambers in Fulton, Mo., after being introduced as the new owner of the town's hospital. "This just shows his priority is trying to take people for fools and trying to raise money to boost his ego wherever he can."Ī Conservative source told Insider: "He pops up thinking he can expose and deepen community divisions, loses badly and then repeats. "George Galloway cannot be trusted," Anneliese Dodds, chair of the Labour Party told Insider. Labour accused Galloway of trying to "take people for fools." Galloway did not respond to any further questions about his promise to donate any surplus funds to local food banks prior to publication. ![]() However, pushed on whether he had donated any remaining surplus to local food banks he said that "I don't know what happened in West Brom." In an interview with Insider, Galloway insisted that "we spent most of the money we raised in the West Bromwich election." ![]() However, the coordinator of the West Bromwich Food Bank, Keith Turner, told Insider that they had not received any money from the former MP, saying: "The West Brom food bank has never received a donation of any amount from Mr Galloway." Galloway's spending returns, obtained by Insider, show he spent just £8,749 during the election campaign, suggesting a potential surplus of up to £15,000 from the crowdfunding campaign. Galloway told potential supporters of the crowdfunding campaign that "all unspent monies will be distributed to local food banks." He had raised more than £24,000 by the end of 2019. The former member of parliament, who is standing to win next week's Batley and Spen by-election, set up a GoFundMe crowdfunding page in July 2019 for his then attempt to win a seat in West Bromwich East. George Galloway's promise to donate unused funds from his 2019 UK general election campaign to "local food banks" has been called into question after an investigation by Insider found no evidence any money had ever been transferred. See more stories on Insider's business page. However, West Bromwich food bank says they received nothing from Galloway. Galloway said he would give excess funds raised in his 2019 UK general election campaign to "local food banks". EXCLUSIVE: George Galloway's promise to donate unused campaign funds to good causes is under scrutiny.
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