Nation - Nevada Prosecutor: Cost of former UMC chief tenure $11M Ex-hospital leader accused of directing contracts to friends

By Ken Ritter Associated Press Writer LAS VEGAS (AP) -- A prosecutor this week blamed a former top executive at Nevada's only public hospital for $11 million in taxpayer funds lost during a three-year tenure steering no-bid and sweetheart contracts to friends and acquaintances in his hometown of Chicago. "Money wasted on things already in place," Chief Deputy Clark County District Attorney Scott Mitchell told a jury during opening statements in the trial of fired former University Medical Center chief Lacy Thomas. "Some of it continues to this day," Mitchell said, telling the jury that a settlement in a lawsuit over one no-exit consulting contract cost the county $600,000. Thomas' lawyer, Daniel Albregts, countered that Thomas was "falsely accused of any crimes or wrongdoing related to his time as CEO of UMC" by prosecutors and Clark County officials he alienated with his aggressive push to make the hospital provide "the best care anywhere." "He never directed contracts to anyone simply because they were friends," Albregts said. "He never allowed payments of UMC's or taxpayers' monies to anyone unless the work was necessary and the work was completed." Thomas, 53, sat impassively at the defendant's table. He has pleaded not guilty to 10 felony theft and misconduct of a public officer charges that, combined, carry the possibility of decades in state prison. His lawyer said Thomas and those he hired as consultants will testify during the trial, which is expected to take more than a week. Thomas came to Las Vegas after a decade as chief executive at John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital in Chicago, the facility that served as the model for the television series "ER." Mitchell told the jury that Thomas was hired in November 2003 as a financial fixer for the chronically deficit-ridden county hospital in Las Vegas, and that his $250,000 annual salary was $50,000 more than the county manager made. "He was told his main responsibility was to assist in the financial turnaround of the hospital," the prosecutor said, promising that the man who hired Thomas, then-County Manager Thom Reilly, will testify. Albregts characterized the hospital -- with thousands of employees, thousands of poor and indigent patients, nearly 550 rooms and an annual budget of some $650 million -- as a huge and complicated operation that Thomas did his best to direct. UMC also has the only Level I trauma center in Nevada and the state's only burn care center. Thomas' lawyer blamed complaints that Thomas didn't provide county administrators with prompt financial reports on computer glitches. He attributed disagreements about how much the hospital was losing to conflicting audits. And he dismissed claims of chumminess with contractors as stories from disgruntled employees. At the time Thomas was fired in January 2007, auditors reported to the Clark County Commission that the hospital had run a $34.3 million deficit the previous year. Thomas maintained the amount was about $18 million. Mitchell cited what he called irregularities and illegalities in five consulting contracts that Thomas entered into at UMC with those the prosecutor called friends, former business partners and acquaintances. One was for a hospital communications system. Another was to assess and oversee hospital computer systems. Another was to collect a mountain of unpaid hospital bills. Mitchell said the contracts paid consultants to do jobs already being done or to oversee systems already up and running. Over time, one contractor was paid $850,000 but produced only a 30-minute computer presentation outlining the information technology system the hospital already had, Mitchell said. "All they had, really, was that PowerPoint presentation assessing information that was publicly available for free," he said. Albregts said he'll show the five contracts were approved by other administrators, lawyers and county officials. And he told the jury the state won't be able to prove Thomas had any intent to break any laws. "The man was doing what he had been hired to do," Albregts said. Published: Thu, Mar 25, 2010

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