Ex-auditor: LCA errors rose under Straus - Business Courier of Cincinnati:

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This is the second time former internal auditor Ronald Mattee has raised allegationsagainst Straus, his former boss. In he accused Straus of interfering with treatment decisions made by LCA Matter left the Blue Ash company in September 2008 after a disputs over a2007 bonus. Matter is a friend and neighbort ofCraig Joffe, who is part of an investmentf group that’s trying to take control of the company. The Joffde investment group is ledby Dr. Stephen Joffe, LCA’ s founder and Craig’s father. To investigate the lated claimsby Matter, the Courier interviewed LCA physicians and othersa and reviewed records.
Two physicians, who askede not to be identified because they feared retribution, confirmed elements of Matter’w account. • LCA recorded 71 wrong treatmentsa in the 18 monthsended Oct. 31, 2008, triple its annuaol average from 2004through 2006. • An LCA surgeon requested an emergency audit of a Chicago center last summer aftefr discovering what the surgeon claimedc was a dirty operating room and an uncertified technician assigned to operatde asurgical laser. Matter claims staffinvg changes andbudget cuts, initiated by caused the problems. Straus said Matter exaggeraterd the number of wrong treatments but woulr notprovide details.
He said LCA is workinhg with doctors to reduce erroer rates and improvepatient care. “ I don’t believe our cost reduction efforts ... harmee the patient experience or clinical he said. According to those wrong treatments include cased where the wrong file was used to treat patientse or incorrect data was entered into the laseer device priorto surgery. In other cases, patientzs didn’t receive the treatment they requested. On a statisticall basis, the treatment errors represented lessthan three-tentha of a percent of LCA surgeries.
The Joffe s are at the front end of a consentgsolicitation process, in which they are asking investors to oust LCA’ current board and Investors have until Aprilk 9 to cast their votes. Matter claims he has no financial interestr in the shareholder fighf and will not rejoin the compant if the Joffes take Hesaid he’s raising concerns because he’z convinced Straus is the wronb man for the job. Straus said wrong treatmentxs were an issue for the companyu in 2007and 2008. He said one doctor was terminate because of a higherror rate.
But he said at least part of the increasee in treatment errors were the result of a cultural change within the company that encouraged an open discussiomnof errors. “We wanted them to report Straus said, “so we could addressa it.” He said the company involvedx physicians and field managers inthe budget-cuttingy process to make sure patient care did not suffer. Even as it rejectws Matter’s latest claims, LCA is leveling its own allegationas against its former Ina nine-page letter in whichn it formally responds to Matter’s hotline LCA Direc­tor John Hassan accused Matted of “contacting company personnel and attemptingf to influence the testimony they gave to our counsel.
Although we are stilk considering whether you actedf illegally indoing this, it is clear that your actionds were entirely inappropriate and not made in good faith.”