NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — On Tuesday night, the Metro Council will be asked to approve a large payout to the former CEO of Nashville General Hospital.
We first told you last week how Dr. Joseph Webb is set to get more than $1 million as he leaves the job amid controversy and questions and the hospital remains on shaky financial ground.
NewsChannel 5 Investigates was at the Nashville Hospital Authority's meeting where board members learned details of his severance package as well as how Nashville General Hospital is trying to move forward following Webb's sudden departure.
Metro Legal Director Wally Dietz started off by addressing what a lot of people might be thinking after hearing that Dr. Joseph Webb is getting more than $1 million from Metro as he leaves Nashville General Hospital more than three months before his CEO contract is up.
"I recognize that it is a lot of money we are talking about," Dietz told members of the Nashville Hospital Authority at their meeting last Thursday."The biggest part of his (Webb's) claim was for an unfunded retirement benefit."
Dietz explained how that while Webb had received an annual salary of nearly $500,000 plus, in recent years, another $150,000 or 30% of his salary to his retirement fund, Dietz said Webb came to Metro administrators last fall, insisting that the Hospital Authority had promised him a substantial retirement package in his early years on the job that he never got.
"It was less than clear frankly whether or not this was a valid claim but we know that they were board members from prior boards who would testify under oath that Dr. Webb was owed money," Dietz described.
Dietz said nothing really happened until late February of this year, when members of the Hospital Authority gave Webb a vote of no-confidence. It appeared that the full board was about to cut ties with the hospital leader because of growing concerns over his job performance, management style, hiring practices, plus ongoing financial problems at the city-subsidized hospital.
"I believed that it was in Metro‘s best interest to negotiate an early exit," Dietz told the board.
He then described how he worked out the severance deal where Webb would give two weeks notice and then be gone, giving the hospital board a head start on finding his replacement.
In exchange, Webb would get the $300,000+ in retirement money he believed he was owed plus interest which added up to just under $891,000. Webb would continue to get his full salary and benefits, approximately another $150,000, through the end of his contract in June.
"People may criticize the judgment. People may decide that it’s not in the interest of the board. I strongly believe that it is," Dietz said, adding that, much to his surprise, within minutes of agreeing to the deal, Webb sent a letter to board members announcing that he was stepping down.
The hospital board at Thursday's meeting gave the severance deal their unanimous support and officially began their search for a new CEO, while Dr. Veronica Elders who's now the acting manager of the hospital, explained how Nashville General is now working to address the problems identified in an investigation by the Metro Office of Internal Audit which found "fraud, wasteful spending, and policy violations at the Executive Level" of the hospital. The findings were released just one day after Webb announced he was leaving.
"We have implemented multiple actions to address this," Elders informed the Hospital Authority Board.
We now know the physician, Dr. Kevin Billups, who was allowed to set up an office in the hospital's clinics free of charge, is now gone.
"We canceled all of his patient appointments. He is no longer utilizing the space," Elders said.
She also said that the valet company, CitiValet, which overbilled the hospital by more than $200,000, has been asked to reimburse Nashville General, and its contract will soon be terminated.
And measures are now in place to make sure the board approves all large contracts.
"We have a new internal process to submitting contracts," Elders told board members.
The hospital continues to struggle with its budget.
While the city has already given Nashville General nearly $58 million this year alone to help keep the lights on, the council will be asked approve an additional $10 million to help it get through the fiscal year, which ends in June.
Hospital administrators said they have implemented a hiring freeze and are evaluating services to determine what might be cut, like urgent care on weekends at the Bordeaux clinic.
The hospital's financial director says the three clinics opened under Dr. Webb's leadership have not made money like they were expected to.
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