Andrew Grosso & Associates Announces Health Care Executive Files Retaliation Law Suit Against CorSolutions Medical, Inc.

WASHINGTON -- Countersuit Alleges Health Care Company Retaliated After Employee Disclosed Fraud

Andrew Grosso & Associates, a District of Columbia law firm, announced the filing of a lawsuit against CorSolutions Medical, Inc., an Illinois-based health care company, and the company's Chief Executive Officer and General Counsel, Richard Vance and Michael Condron. The lawsuit, filed on behalf of former CorSolutions employee Pei Tang, charges that the company and these officers retaliated against Ms. Tang, formerly the Vice President of Informatics and Outcomes Management for CorSolutions, after she submitted a detailed, confidential report to the company's Board of Directors describing data manipulation and fraud by the company's senior management. Among the potential victims of this fraud was the United States Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). A copy of this report, and a letter from the Chairman of CorSolutions' Board confirming the validity of the allegations in the report, were included as exhibits in Ms. Tang's complaint.

CorSolutions is involved in the business of disease management, including the provision of health care techniques intended to achieve cost reductions for health plans and employers. Its headquarters are located near Chicago, in Rosemount, Illinois. Ms. Tang filed her suit as a counterclaim after the company sought to have her discharged from her new employer, and after it had filed its own lawsuit against Ms. Tang as part of that attempt.

According to Ms. Tang's complaint, during the winter and spring of 2004, senior management at CorSolutions directed that data in the company's files be manipulated to make it appear that patient and physician satisfaction with the company's services were higher than had actually been measured. Ms. Tang also alleged that CorSolutions manipulated the figures to falsely portray to customers that certain contract performance guarantees had been achieved when, in fact, they had not. This manipulation also may have had the effect of influencing CMS in the award of a contract under the Medicare program. CorSolutions currently holds two Medicare contracts with CMS. Other customers identified in the report as having been affected, or having been at risk of being affected, by this manipulation of data were Premera Blue Cross in Seattle, Washington; the Medica Health Plans, in Minnesota; HealthNet of California; and the Houston and Dallas Independent School Districts in Texas.

In effort to prevent this fraud, Ms. Tang presented alternatives to her management. When these alternatives were repeatedly rejected, she submitted a report to the Board of Directors of CorSolutions on June 8, 2004, attempting to resolve the issue internally to protect the company and its customers. A subsequent internal investigation confirmed significant portions of the report's allegations. Thereafter, according to Ms. Tang's complaint, the company's senior management engaged in retaliatory conduct, forcing Ms. Tang to leave CorSolutions. After Ms. Tang left CorSolutions and began working for her new employer, CorSolutions immediately engaged in conduct intended to cause her termination and, thereafter, prevent her from working with any company in the field of disease management, her area of professional expertise. Among the allegations in Ms. Tang's countersuit are that CorSolutions violated the anti-retaliations provisions of the federal False Claims Act; that CorSolutions' CEO Richard Vance and General Counsel Michael Condron defamed her in communications with her new employer and sought to unlawfully interfere with her employment relationship with that company; and that CorSolutions continues to engage in data manipulation pertaining to its customers.

CorSolutions' initial lawsuit against Ms. Tang was filed on December 6, 2004, in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois (Case No. 04-20142). Ms. Tang's countersuit, including the third party complaint against Defendants Richard Vance and Michael Condron, was filed on December 15, 2004, and an amended countersuit and third party complaint was filed on December 30, 2004. (A copy of this amended countersuit and third party complaint is posted at www.grossolaw.com.)

Ms. Tang is represented in this case by Andrew Grosso of the D.C. law firm of Andrew Grosso and Associates, and by Faye Clayton and Susan Valentine, partners of the Chicago law firm of Robinson, Curley & Clayton, P.C.