Governor meets with TBI investigators in Ford probe

NASHVILLE (AP) — The governor said he talked with state investigators Friday morning about Sen. John Ford’s request to give more state business to a contractor later linked to the Memphis Democrat.

Gov. Phil Bredesen said he told the investigators the same thing he first revealed to reporters early this month: Ford asked him sometime in 2003 or early 2004 to give more TennCare enrollees to a Memphis company then called OmniCare.

Bredesen has said he didn’t think much of the meeting at the time because he often gets approached by lawmakers to help out constituents or businesses located in their districts.

In recent months it has been revealed that Ford was getting paid as much as $10,000 a month by OmniCare, which later changed its name to UAHC Health Plan of Tennessee.

Ford is now the focus of a grand jury investigation in Memphis as state and federal authorities both look into the case.

Ford and the company have maintained that the state senator was paid only for work in other states and was not compensated to influence the company’s Tennessee contract.

Ford recently told reporters that Bredesen is not remembering their conversation correctly. He says Bredesen brought up OmniCare at a meeting of black lawmakers and Ford says he just listened to the governor’s presentation.

Bredesen said he only remembers the conversation because the argument centered on the premise that OmniCare needed more enrollees because the HMO couldn’t be run with only 120,000 TennCare clients. Bredesen, a former health care executive, said he ran an HMO with 45,000 members and found Ford’s argument “amusing.”

“That’s the reason I even remember the conversation,” he said.

Bredesen said he had little more to tell investigators Friday.

The governor said he does not have much of a role to play in the ongoing saga surrounding Ford.

“To the extent there is criminal activity, there are criminal investigations that have been opened at all sorts of levels,” Bredesen said. “I have always said you should just let those things play out.”

Ford’s consulting deals have also been linked to another contractor, Doral Dental.

The state has already moved to put UAHC under state supervision and told Doral its contract will be put out for rebid. TennCare contracts specifically ban managed care organizations from funneling money to state officials.

Both companies have parted ways with executives close to the Ford deals.