AIDS Group Sues L.A. County DPH
An outspoken non-profit that is one of the leading providers of services to AIDS patients in Los Angeles County has sued the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health and two members of the County Board of Supervisors, claiming it is being retaliated against for its activism.
The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles on Dec. 5 by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, accuses the DPH and County Supervisors Zev Yaroslavsky and Gloria Molina of damaging its reputation by accusing the group of misusing $1.7 million in county appropriations in treating AIDS patients.
Also named in the suit is Jonathan Fielding, M.D., the director of the county DPH, and Mario Perez, who oversees DPH's AIDS programs.
The Los Angeles-based AHF has taken no prisoners over the years in the way it handles its public affairs, often loudly criticizing pharmaceutical firms for not lowering the prices on its drugs for treating HIV-positive and AIDS patients. In one of its most controversial moves, the AHF was successful in passing a county ballot initiative last month that would require adult actors working within the county to wear condoms. Prior to that, the AHF had sued the county in 2009, claiming it was not enforcing health and safety mandates by not requiring condom use among adult film actors.
At the same time, AHF provides extensive outpatient services to county patients who are HIV-positive or who have AIDS. It receives about $8 million a year in state and county funding to perform the services, according to records.
In the current lawsuit, the AHF claims county officials such as Molina are damaging its reputation by insinuating it misspent public funds – part of what it says is payback for the pressure it has exerted on the condom issue. As a result, the county is also violating its free speech rights.
“Los Angeles County, Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, and various of their divisions and leaders, have indulged in the gross misuse of resources, waste of public funds, favoritism, professional backscratching, and retaliation against those that hold them accountable for doing their jobs,” the lawsuit asserted.
Neither Molina not Yaroslavsky's offices would comment on the litigation.
The fiduciary claim is the result of an audit undertaken in 2010 and released earlier this year by the Los Angeles County Auditor-Controller, which concluded the AHF had overspent $1.7 million on treating AIDS patients in county programs between January 2008 and March 2009. The 9-page report released in August concluded that county programs were billed for the treatment of some patients, when the Medi-Cal program should have been billed instead. The report did not allege any misappropriations of funds, although it did say AHF had improperly billed the county for some hazard insurance premiums.
In addition to those allegations, the AHF accused the county of wanting to retaliate after it sued last spring over what it claimed was the awarding of a non-competitive contract for the Healthy Way L.A.'s pharmaceutical services to Oakland-based Ramsell Holding Corp. Ramsell provides pharmaceutical distribution for a variety of Medicaid programs throughout the U.S.
Although AHF claimed it got the contract voided in June, Ramsell officially announced in October it was working with the Healthy Way L.A. program. AHF claims the county is punishing the AHF as a whistleblower.
AHF also claims as the result of alleged retaliation, it lost out on a $3 million county benefits management contract in which it was the only entity to respond to a request for proposal, and that it lost another contract to provide outpatient services to resident of the Antelope Valley in Northern Los Angeles County.
AHF is seeking general and punitive damages, a voiding of the audit, and any actions it may take to withhold the $1.7 million from future payments.
