UMDNJ President to Step Down
President of UMDNJ is forced out:
John Petillo will step down as president of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey next month in return for a severance package that will pay him $600,000, capping a year of scandal and turmoil at the school.
In the past year, the university has been hit by almost-daily disclosures of mismanagement and abuse. The revelations began when The Star-Ledger reported UMDNJ had paid $75,000 to a Philadelphia power broker with close ties to then-Gov. James E. McGreevey for consulting work that no one could explain. In the months that followed, the newspaper detailed millions of dollars in no-bid contracts, as well as awards to politically connected consultants and lobbyists.
Then, in December, UMDNJ was charged in a $4.9 million Medicaid fraud scheme involving deliberate double-charging for physician services. The illegal billing had been going on for years despite warnings to top administrators, internal documents showed.
The federal charges could have forced the shutdown of UMDNJ and the hospital it operates in Newark, University Hospital, but UMDNJ's trustees entered into a deferred-prosecution agreement with the U.S. attorney after ceding control of the university to a federal monitor.
New Jersey Government; UMDNJ
John Petillo will step down as president of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey next month in return for a severance package that will pay him $600,000, capping a year of scandal and turmoil at the school.
In the past year, the university has been hit by almost-daily disclosures of mismanagement and abuse. The revelations began when The Star-Ledger reported UMDNJ had paid $75,000 to a Philadelphia power broker with close ties to then-Gov. James E. McGreevey for consulting work that no one could explain. In the months that followed, the newspaper detailed millions of dollars in no-bid contracts, as well as awards to politically connected consultants and lobbyists.
Then, in December, UMDNJ was charged in a $4.9 million Medicaid fraud scheme involving deliberate double-charging for physician services. The illegal billing had been going on for years despite warnings to top administrators, internal documents showed.
The federal charges could have forced the shutdown of UMDNJ and the hospital it operates in Newark, University Hospital, but UMDNJ's trustees entered into a deferred-prosecution agreement with the U.S. attorney after ceding control of the university to a federal monitor.
New Jersey Government; UMDNJ
