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March 3, 2007

CRMC settles Dickerson lawsuit

Lori Glenn

MOULTRIE — Colquitt Regional Medical Center (CRMC) and a former employee who alleged Medicare fraud came to a tentative settlement this week, their attorneys confirmed.

Last week, the hospital released that it agreed to pay $475,000 to the U.S. government for technical errors that hospital officials said were unintentional. The U.S. Justice Department had determined that the hospital had overcharged the government for services through CRMC’s Home Health Office in Sylvester.

Allegations of fraud were outlined in a federal lawsuit brought forth by Joyce Dickerson, the former director of the Moultrie office of CRMC’s Health Care Services, in 2004. In the second half of that lawsuit were Dickerson’s allegations that CRMC Administrator Jim Lowry harassed her to the point that she was forced out of her job.

Neither CRMC’s attorney John Carlton nor Dickerson’s attorney Robert Howell would disclose the amount of the tentative settlement. There is a non-disclosure agreement attached as terms of the settlement, they said.

Dickerson reported what she thought was fraudulent activity to Lowry on May 10, 2004, her complaint said. The complaint alleged he responded by verbally harassing her “on a daily basis using threatening, vulgar and offensive language.” In her eight years of employment with CRMC, she had received stellar performance evaluations with no hint of a reprimand, the complaint said.

Dickerson’s complaint alleged Lowry repeatedly threatened her with the loss of her job and tried to intimidate her with his position of power. She said he once remarked that she was “an M16 machine gun picking a fight with a cannon.” He also advised her she had “mental problems” and “needed counseling,” the complaint said.

Dickerson also alleged that Lowry ordered that the hospital investigate her and her husband for potential violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.

Dickerson was removed as director from both the Sylvester and Moultrie home health offices in July 2004 and was ordered not to go back to the Sylvester office, the complaint alleged. Lowry allegedly then changed the locks to the office to bar her access to the records and took over the direct administration of both offices.

The hospital attorney wouldn’t offer a rebuttal as of press time but said he would offer CRMC’s side of the story to The Observer at a later date.

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