Contractor reaches agreement over funds allegedly paid to senator
Doral Dental paid $1.1 million to a consulting firm linked to Sen. John Ford, and the Memphis Democrat was allegedly paid as much as $429,000.
The state threatened to deduct payment to Doral for close to that amount after an agreement to put the money into an escrow account fell through earlier this month. But TennCare spokeswoman Marilyn Elam said Thursday an agreement was reached this week.
“There will be an escrow of $500,000 that holds the money in safekeeping,” Elam said.
TennCare Director J.D. Hickey said last week that the attorney general’s office has not determined if there was a contract violation by Doral, and the recent agreement reiterates that.
“TennCare specifically acknowledges that it has not asserted any claims against Doral,” the agreement states, “and that it is not TennCare’s intent to imply or suggest that the establishment of the escrow is evidence of or should be construed as an admission of any wrongdoing by Doral.”
Elam said the money will be returned to Doral if the attorney general finds no contract violations. The state has said it won’t renew Doral’s contract, which ends in two months.
Last week, the state demanded that another contractor with ties to Ford promptly turn over documents — including a list of contacts the TennCare provider has had with other lawmakers.
OmniCare, now known as UAHC Health Plan, turned over hundreds of pages of documents, which TennCare officials released last Friday.
Most were lengthy, but relatively generic, contracts. Others show campaign contributions from company officials to Ford, who is being investigated by the Senate Ethics Committee, state and federal agencies and a Memphis grand jury regarding his business dealings with TennCare, the state’s $8 billion expanded Medicaid program.
Tennessee had been threatening hefty fines if the company didn’t divulge its complete relationship with Ford. But the documents shed little light on the business dealings between OmniCare and “John Ford & Associates.”
An attorney hired by parent company United American Healthcare Corp. of Detroit said there are no written documents, e-mail or mail proving its claim that all Ford’s work was done in other states.
The company says it relied upon regular oral updates from Ford on his work and never put it down on paper. Ford’s deal with the company was reportedly for as much as $10,000 a month.
Ford has maintained he was never paid by OmniCare, or Doral, for work done in Tennessee. He said the payments never influenced his vote or legislative action in the General Assembly.