The lawsuit states that system executives told Felici orally and in writing that they would make severance payments, and the hospital notified him in a July 8, 2010 letter that the system's board of directors had voted to cease all payments and benefits. Felici accused the system of fraudulently breaching its contract and inducing him to end his employment.
Felici also sued American Healthcare Solutions for allegedly committing “tortious interference” with his employment contract by causing the cessation of payments to him, and filed a claim of intentional infliction of emotional distress against the consultancy and the hospital system.
The firm is disputing the allegations in court, and its CEO, Jan Jennings, declined to comment. A trial date has been set for February 2013.
The system has reacted in kind to Felici's lawsuit, denying the allegations of fraud and then countersuing him to recoup his salary because it alleged he concealed illegalities that hurt the system financially—facts that would have caused it not to renew his contracts.
The system said Felici entered into fraudulent contracts with physicians going all the way back to his days at East Ohio Regional Hospital and going forward, including deals that resulted in millions of dollars in excess payments to physicians that eventually triggered millions in penalties to regulators.
The system agreed last September to pay $3.8 million for alleged Stark violations that were discovered by American Healthcare Solutions, George Couch, who was then the system CEO, said in a September 2011 interview with Modern Healthcare.
The system also entered a five-year corporate integrity agreement with HHS' inspector general's office related to its business arrangements with physicians.
In addition, the system alleged that Felici mismanaged a restricted charitable gift that resulted in a court-ordered repayment, and then lied about it to the board.
In response to the counterclaims, Felici said the system had not produced enough information for him to rebut the claims, adding that the system has “unclean hands” by blaming the former CEO for alleged acts of which system officials and employees knew about and/or participated in.