K
Kickin' Ass and Takin' Names
Guest
Someone tell me: Is it possible for a Republican to tell the
truth?????
----
The former head of the federal agency overseeing family planning
programs misled the public about his qualifications and background, a
RAW STORY investigation has found.
Appointed by President George W. Bush in late 2006 as the Deputy
Assistant Secretary for Population Affairs at the Department of Health
and Human Services, Dr. Eric J. Keroack resigned unexpectedly in March
of this year after Massachusetts officials launched a formal
investigation into allegations of Medicaid fraud during his tenure in
private practice.
Medicaid is a state-federal health program for the poor.
Although as an appointee he quickly became mired in controversy over
his opposition to birth control, abortion and comprehensive sex
education, newly obtained documents show that from the start Dr.
Keroack was far from qualified to head the federal women's health
program.
As Deputy Assistant Secretary for Population Affairs, Dr. Keroack was
responsible for a $283 million budget and charged with running a
federal agency overseeing women's health issues such as screening for
cervical and breast cancer, contraception planning, pregnancy
counseling and treatment for sexually transmitted diseases. However, a
RAW STORY investigation has found that Keroack either misled the Bush
administration about his background or was appointed regardless of his
record and with little vetting.
HHS officials repeatedly cited Keroack's long tenure in private
practice as one of his key qualifications, along with his highly
publicized role as medical director for a chain of Christian pregnancy
centers.
According to the Washington Post, "Eric Keroack, a nationally known
advocate of abstinence until marriage, served for more than a decade
as medical director for A Woman's Concern, a Massachusetts nonprofit
group that discourages abortion and does not distribute information
promoting birth control. But HHS spokeswoman Christina Pearson said
yesterday that most of Keroack's professional time had been devoted to
his private practice of 20 years, not the group."
Documents and interviews with Keroack's associates, however, show that
the post of medical director was merely a part-time or volunteer job.
Keroack's claims of an extensive private practice also appear dubious.
Administration vaunted bogus credentials
Records from the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine show
that Dr. Keroack did not finish his residency in obstetrics and
gynecology until 1993. This means he could not possibly have practiced
obstetrics for 20 years.
In addition, according to the Post, Dr. Keroack's board certification
as an OBGYN, which would have been good for ten years, had lapsed in
2005, a full year before his appointment. As a result, Keroack's
tenure in private practice as a board-certified OB-GYN at the time of
his appointment could have been no more than 10 years.
Documents obtained by RAW STORY suggest that Keroack may have been in
practice even less time.
When Dr. Keroack took stewardship of Population Affairs in 2006,
Massachusetts' medical licensing board had already spent roughly a
year reviewing a complaint that he had violated ethical norms by
prescribing medications for people who weren't his patients, had
practiced outside of his area of specialty and had attempted to
defraud the insurance system.
Massachusetts medical board spokesman Randal Aims said late last week
that when a complaint is filed against a physician, the doctor is
allowed to respond in writing. In Keroack's Sept. 18, 2005 response,
in which he defended himself against the allegation that he was not
qualified to provide counseling, he indicated that he had not been in
practice for "over 5-years."
"As you might expect, the fact that it has been over 5-years [sic]
since I took a leave from my direct practice of clinical medicine in
the North Shore area has made the location of some of the individual
single session C.M.E. lectures quite difficult," he wrote. "I confess
to being less than perfect when it comes to long-term personal record
keeping."
This indicates that as of 2005, Keroack had withdrawn from practicing
clinical medicine at least five years earlier, suggesting that the
duration of his tenure in private practice was roughly five years.
The same document also includes Dr. Keroack's admission that he has no
proof that he completed the Continuing Medical Education modules
required to maintain his medical license.
HHS spokewoman Christine Pearson told the Post Keroack "inadvertently
missed the recertification deadline" and "plans to seek
recertification in the future."
Records show that Keroack also let another professional certification
lapse in 2005. The American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology's
director of membership services, Bernice Jones, confirmed in a letter
that Keroack's membership in the College had lapsed in July, 2005.
RAW STORY asked Pearson to respond concerning these discrepancies
between Dr. Keroack's background and the public profile presented by
HHS and to provide his official biography and any press releases or
statements regarding his hiring, his term in office or his
resignation. Responding via email, Pearson indicated that she'd never
seen a copy of Dr. Keroack's resume.
"I have never had a copy of his resume nor am I aware of any press
releases, pre-hiring announcements or press releases pertaining to his
acts while he was in office," Pearson wrote.
Asked to explain how she knew how long Dr. Keroack had been in
practice, Pearson explained that he had personally told her of his
qualifications.
Another HHS spokesperson, Rebecca Ayer, said that HHS had never had an
official biography for Dr. Keroack, but provided assurances that he
had gone through the "standard hiring process."
Saying she could not comment further on personnel issues due to the
Privacy Act, Ayer suggested this reporter file a Freedom of
Information Request.
Medical directorship was part-time or volunteer job
The controversy over Dr. Keroack's association with A Woman's Concern
and his particular views with regard to women's health in the wake of
his appointment may have overshadowed deeper issues regarding his
actual background.
A Woman's Concern's tax records show no mention of him during the six-
year period he was supposed to have been the medical director. As a
non-profit, AWC is required to list all employees and contractors who
are paid more than $50,000 per year.
Mark Conrad, the president of A Woman's Concern, said that Dr. Keroack
was only a part-time volunteer with the organization and
simultaneously rented an office at one of their facilities.
Former Woman's Concern president Rev. Ensor, who led the organization
during most of Keroack's tenure, gave a different account.
"Was he paid? Sure he was paid," Ensor said. "Some seasons he
volunteered, and sometimes we paid him."
Dr. Keroack's private practice address during this period shows him at
103 Broadway in Revere, MA - in the same building as one of the AWC
pregnancy centers. Both Conrad and Ensor agree that the doctor rented
space from AWC but has now terminated his lease with the clinic. The
phone number for Keroack's office at that facility is disconnected.
The business address Dr. Keroack lists on his physician profile is in
Marblehead, Mass. The phone number is registered in the name of D.
Merrick and was shown by additional background checks to be located at
yet another address in Marblehead, 5 Orchard Circle.
Real estate records indicate that 5 Orchard Circle is a single-family
home owned by Eric J. Keroack. It is not clear who owns or lives at or
practices out of the second Marblehead address.
RAW STORY made repeated calls to the phone the number listed in the
physician profile. During one such call, a woman answered the phone.
She did not identify herself but did confirm that the number belonged
to Dr. Keroack and that there was no office or other number by which
he could be reached. Subsequent calls to the number yielded an
answering machine message that strongly suggested the number was a
residential line and not a doctor's office.
Moreover, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Secretary of State's
office said they have no record of Keroack "registering to run an
office-based practice in the state."
Dr. Keroack did not return repeated phone calls and emails seeking
comment.
Keroack's abrupt resignation
Dr. Keroack announced in late March of this year that he was resigning
to defend himself against allegations of Medicaid fraud levied against
his clinical practice. It is not clear whether the Medicaid
investigation he was referring to was sparked by the ethical
complaints filed with the medical board against him during his dual
role as a private practice gynecologist and volunteer at A Woman's
Concern.
It's possible that there are other complaints against Keroack that
have yet to be resolved. Massachusetts board spokesman Russell Aims
told RAW STORY that as of January, 2007, two earlier complaints
against Keroack's license had been resolved. Aims, however, stressed
that medical licensing authorities in Massachusetts are prohibited
from acknowledging the existence of unresolved claims still pending
against a physician's license.
Though he has no formal research credentials, Dr. Keroack has lectured
widely from a PowerPoint presentation that uses Loony Tunes characters
to illustrate his theory that premarital sex damages the female brain,
making non-abstinent women incapable of forming emotional bonds.
Keroack's highly unorthodox medical views had originally cast doubt on
his qualifications to serve as the nation's birth control czar. His
appointment did not require confirmation from Congress.
http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Heckuva_job_Bush_Administration_vaunted_bogus_0515.html
truth?????
----
The former head of the federal agency overseeing family planning
programs misled the public about his qualifications and background, a
RAW STORY investigation has found.
Appointed by President George W. Bush in late 2006 as the Deputy
Assistant Secretary for Population Affairs at the Department of Health
and Human Services, Dr. Eric J. Keroack resigned unexpectedly in March
of this year after Massachusetts officials launched a formal
investigation into allegations of Medicaid fraud during his tenure in
private practice.
Medicaid is a state-federal health program for the poor.
Although as an appointee he quickly became mired in controversy over
his opposition to birth control, abortion and comprehensive sex
education, newly obtained documents show that from the start Dr.
Keroack was far from qualified to head the federal women's health
program.
As Deputy Assistant Secretary for Population Affairs, Dr. Keroack was
responsible for a $283 million budget and charged with running a
federal agency overseeing women's health issues such as screening for
cervical and breast cancer, contraception planning, pregnancy
counseling and treatment for sexually transmitted diseases. However, a
RAW STORY investigation has found that Keroack either misled the Bush
administration about his background or was appointed regardless of his
record and with little vetting.
HHS officials repeatedly cited Keroack's long tenure in private
practice as one of his key qualifications, along with his highly
publicized role as medical director for a chain of Christian pregnancy
centers.
According to the Washington Post, "Eric Keroack, a nationally known
advocate of abstinence until marriage, served for more than a decade
as medical director for A Woman's Concern, a Massachusetts nonprofit
group that discourages abortion and does not distribute information
promoting birth control. But HHS spokeswoman Christina Pearson said
yesterday that most of Keroack's professional time had been devoted to
his private practice of 20 years, not the group."
Documents and interviews with Keroack's associates, however, show that
the post of medical director was merely a part-time or volunteer job.
Keroack's claims of an extensive private practice also appear dubious.
Administration vaunted bogus credentials
Records from the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine show
that Dr. Keroack did not finish his residency in obstetrics and
gynecology until 1993. This means he could not possibly have practiced
obstetrics for 20 years.
In addition, according to the Post, Dr. Keroack's board certification
as an OBGYN, which would have been good for ten years, had lapsed in
2005, a full year before his appointment. As a result, Keroack's
tenure in private practice as a board-certified OB-GYN at the time of
his appointment could have been no more than 10 years.
Documents obtained by RAW STORY suggest that Keroack may have been in
practice even less time.
When Dr. Keroack took stewardship of Population Affairs in 2006,
Massachusetts' medical licensing board had already spent roughly a
year reviewing a complaint that he had violated ethical norms by
prescribing medications for people who weren't his patients, had
practiced outside of his area of specialty and had attempted to
defraud the insurance system.
Massachusetts medical board spokesman Randal Aims said late last week
that when a complaint is filed against a physician, the doctor is
allowed to respond in writing. In Keroack's Sept. 18, 2005 response,
in which he defended himself against the allegation that he was not
qualified to provide counseling, he indicated that he had not been in
practice for "over 5-years."
"As you might expect, the fact that it has been over 5-years [sic]
since I took a leave from my direct practice of clinical medicine in
the North Shore area has made the location of some of the individual
single session C.M.E. lectures quite difficult," he wrote. "I confess
to being less than perfect when it comes to long-term personal record
keeping."
This indicates that as of 2005, Keroack had withdrawn from practicing
clinical medicine at least five years earlier, suggesting that the
duration of his tenure in private practice was roughly five years.
The same document also includes Dr. Keroack's admission that he has no
proof that he completed the Continuing Medical Education modules
required to maintain his medical license.
HHS spokewoman Christine Pearson told the Post Keroack "inadvertently
missed the recertification deadline" and "plans to seek
recertification in the future."
Records show that Keroack also let another professional certification
lapse in 2005. The American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology's
director of membership services, Bernice Jones, confirmed in a letter
that Keroack's membership in the College had lapsed in July, 2005.
RAW STORY asked Pearson to respond concerning these discrepancies
between Dr. Keroack's background and the public profile presented by
HHS and to provide his official biography and any press releases or
statements regarding his hiring, his term in office or his
resignation. Responding via email, Pearson indicated that she'd never
seen a copy of Dr. Keroack's resume.
"I have never had a copy of his resume nor am I aware of any press
releases, pre-hiring announcements or press releases pertaining to his
acts while he was in office," Pearson wrote.
Asked to explain how she knew how long Dr. Keroack had been in
practice, Pearson explained that he had personally told her of his
qualifications.
Another HHS spokesperson, Rebecca Ayer, said that HHS had never had an
official biography for Dr. Keroack, but provided assurances that he
had gone through the "standard hiring process."
Saying she could not comment further on personnel issues due to the
Privacy Act, Ayer suggested this reporter file a Freedom of
Information Request.
Medical directorship was part-time or volunteer job
The controversy over Dr. Keroack's association with A Woman's Concern
and his particular views with regard to women's health in the wake of
his appointment may have overshadowed deeper issues regarding his
actual background.
A Woman's Concern's tax records show no mention of him during the six-
year period he was supposed to have been the medical director. As a
non-profit, AWC is required to list all employees and contractors who
are paid more than $50,000 per year.
Mark Conrad, the president of A Woman's Concern, said that Dr. Keroack
was only a part-time volunteer with the organization and
simultaneously rented an office at one of their facilities.
Former Woman's Concern president Rev. Ensor, who led the organization
during most of Keroack's tenure, gave a different account.
"Was he paid? Sure he was paid," Ensor said. "Some seasons he
volunteered, and sometimes we paid him."
Dr. Keroack's private practice address during this period shows him at
103 Broadway in Revere, MA - in the same building as one of the AWC
pregnancy centers. Both Conrad and Ensor agree that the doctor rented
space from AWC but has now terminated his lease with the clinic. The
phone number for Keroack's office at that facility is disconnected.
The business address Dr. Keroack lists on his physician profile is in
Marblehead, Mass. The phone number is registered in the name of D.
Merrick and was shown by additional background checks to be located at
yet another address in Marblehead, 5 Orchard Circle.
Real estate records indicate that 5 Orchard Circle is a single-family
home owned by Eric J. Keroack. It is not clear who owns or lives at or
practices out of the second Marblehead address.
RAW STORY made repeated calls to the phone the number listed in the
physician profile. During one such call, a woman answered the phone.
She did not identify herself but did confirm that the number belonged
to Dr. Keroack and that there was no office or other number by which
he could be reached. Subsequent calls to the number yielded an
answering machine message that strongly suggested the number was a
residential line and not a doctor's office.
Moreover, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Secretary of State's
office said they have no record of Keroack "registering to run an
office-based practice in the state."
Dr. Keroack did not return repeated phone calls and emails seeking
comment.
Keroack's abrupt resignation
Dr. Keroack announced in late March of this year that he was resigning
to defend himself against allegations of Medicaid fraud levied against
his clinical practice. It is not clear whether the Medicaid
investigation he was referring to was sparked by the ethical
complaints filed with the medical board against him during his dual
role as a private practice gynecologist and volunteer at A Woman's
Concern.
It's possible that there are other complaints against Keroack that
have yet to be resolved. Massachusetts board spokesman Russell Aims
told RAW STORY that as of January, 2007, two earlier complaints
against Keroack's license had been resolved. Aims, however, stressed
that medical licensing authorities in Massachusetts are prohibited
from acknowledging the existence of unresolved claims still pending
against a physician's license.
Though he has no formal research credentials, Dr. Keroack has lectured
widely from a PowerPoint presentation that uses Loony Tunes characters
to illustrate his theory that premarital sex damages the female brain,
making non-abstinent women incapable of forming emotional bonds.
Keroack's highly unorthodox medical views had originally cast doubt on
his qualifications to serve as the nation's birth control czar. His
appointment did not require confirmation from Congress.
http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Heckuva_job_Bush_Administration_vaunted_bogus_0515.html
