Crist names health secretary

Gov. Charlie Crist today appointed Dr. Ana M. Viamonte Ros as Secretary of the Department of Health and Florida’s first Surgeon General. His office released the following:

Dr. Viamonte Ros manages Clinical Operation Support at Armor Correctional Health Services in Coconut Creek. She completed post-graduate residencies at the Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami Beach, the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology in Washington, D.C. and Shands Hospital in Gainesville. Dr. Viamonte Ros graduated from the University of Miami, the University of Miami School of Medicine and the Harvard School of Public Health.

“Dr. Viamonte Ros’ work interacting and coordinating with various stakeholders has given her unique insight which will help her implement sound public health policy,” Crist said. “She has a passion for health care and a true drive for public service.”

Comments

Thanks for that transcription of the governor's press release, but was there any actual news made at this press conference?

good selection!

Who's Armor?

Posted on Tue, Nov. 15, 2005

JAIL HEALTHCARE
Private firm has sheriffs riding shotgun
With behind-the-scenes help from sheriffs, including BSO's Ken Jenne, Broward-based Armor Correctional Health Services is making millions.
BY DAN CHRISTENSEN
dchristensen@herald.com

A year ago, Coconut Creek-based Armor Correctional Health Services was an upstart in the business of providing healthcare for jail inmates.

The company had formidable political connections but no track record, no active contracts and not a dollar in sales.

But Armor, owned by Miami physician Dr. Jose Armas, has bulked up fast.

Today, with behind-the-scenes help from several current and former Florida sheriffs, Armor has signed multiyear contracts with Broward, Brevard and Hillsborough counties worth about $221 million over five years. A fourth contract, with Martin County, is being finalized.

County sheriffs do their own hiring and set the rules that competing bidders must follow.

In Broward and Brevard, rules were changed in advance of bids in ways that helped Armor qualify for contracts.

And in Hillsborough, Armor's bid was millions of dollars higher than three others. It got a boost from a late decision to eliminate price as a consideration.

Two sheriffs who bypassed Armor said fellow sheriffs have called them and plugged the company. They identified those sheriffs as Ken Jenne of Broward, Ric Bradshaw of Palm Beach and J.R. ''Jack'' Parker of Brevard.

Ex-Hillsborough Sheriff Cal Henderson told The Herald that Armor hired him as a ''consultant'' shortly after he left office in January.

His duties, he said, have included lobbying sheriffs in at least six counties -- Marion, Collier, Sarasota, Manatee, Leon and Lee -- where healthcare contracts were pending or anticipated.

According to company spokeswoman Dana Clay, Armor won the contracts because of its ability to perform, the value it offered and the experience of its staff.

''If sheriffs are talking to each other, it's been completely on their own initiative,'' Clay said.

The privatization of medical, dental and mental health services for prisoners is on the rise across the country as governments seek to cut costs, limit liability and avoid caring directly for an often sickly population, experts say.

LOBBYING QUESTIONED

In Florida, opportunity exists for more rapid growth. The state Department of Corrections is now seeking bidders for a five-year contract to provide comprehensive healthcare services to about 18,000 inmates in 13 prisons in South Florida.

Bids for that contract, estimated to be worth about $385 million, will be opened Nov. 29.

While Armor has no plans to go public, Clay said, it has positioned itself to do so by registering itself and obtaining a trading symbol, AHSV.

Florida law generally allows public officials to lobby agencies other than their own.

But behind-the-scenes lobbying by sheriffs raises ethical questions, a University of Miami ethicist said.

''The use of surreptitious lobbying that is unknown to the public and unregulated by the public seems to be both unwise and arguably wrong,'' said Anthony Alfieri, director of UM's Center for Ethics and Public Service.

Three sheriff's offices changed bid specifications for prison healthcare service contracts in ways that helped Armor win.

• In Broward, BSO opened the door for Armor during the bid process by dropping its requirement that companies have experience providing healthcare to inmates. Armor had no experience, and was just three months old, when Jenne awarded the company its first $127 million contract in October 2004 to provide healthcare services to Broward's 5,000 inmates during the next five years.

And Armor is owned by Armas, who, through his companies and associates, has been a major contributor to Jenne's reelection campaign.

• In Brevard, Armor won a five-year, $19.9 million contract from Sheriff Parker in May, after Parker's office slightly altered the wording in bid specifications about corporate experience. The changes allowed fledgling Armor to qualify by giving it credit for the experience of individual executives.

• In Hillsborough, Armor snagged a three-year, $65 million contract following a decision late in the process to eliminate price as a consideration in picking a winner. Three competitors submitted bids that were millions of dollars less than Armor's. The county's detention chief acknowledged in an interview that the decision was ''unusual,'' but it is not illegal.

Two Florida sheriffs who chose not to hire Armor, St. Lucie's Ken Mascara and Lee's Mike Scott, said other sheriffs attempted to influence them to hire Armor.

Mascara told the Daily Business Review in March that Jenne called him last year and recommended Armor.

''He said he knew the guy running it and asked if I would entertain their bid,'' Mascara recalled.

''We were talking. I brought it up,'' Jenne told the Review. ``I told him our people were very satisfied with them.''

But Jenne offered his favorable opinion before Armor had begun work for BSO.

Jenne has not recommended Armor to other sheriffs, his spokesman said, and the sheriff doesn't believe his statements to Mascara amounted to a recommendation of Armor.

Mascara declined to comment.

LOTS OF PHONE CALLS

Lee County's Sheriff Scott said fellow sheriffs, state senators and a lobbyist for the Florida Police Benevolent Association, James M. Spearing Jr., peppered him with calls boosting Armor when Lee County bid out a multimillion-dollar jail healthcare contract in May and June.

''You could call it lobbying,'' said Scott who named Palm Beach's Bradshaw and Brevard's Parker, as well as ex-Hillsborough Sheriff Henderson as the ones who called him.

Scott said Armor chief executive Doyle Moore also ``suggested I give Ken Jenne a call, too, but I didn't need to. By that time, I'd made up my mind.''

Scott, who chose to keep his county's incumbent provider, Tennessee-based Prison Health Services, said some sheriffs, including Jenne and Parker, had helped Armor by lowering corporate experience requirements in bid documents.

''As a sheriff, you can relax those things and others did,'' said Scott.

Palm Beach Sheriff Bradshaw ''may have talked about this company'' with Sheriff Scott, said Bradshaw's spokesman Paul Miller.

MIND MADE UP?

Bradshaw, who took office in January, is reviewing all contracts in search of savings, Miller said. The existing jail healthcare contract with St. Louis-based Correctional Medical Services has a clause that would allow Bradshaw to opt out early and seek new bids, Miller said.

In September, The Palm Beach Post reported that Bradshaw had sent a team of Armor executives into the jail to review CMS's operations. Sheriff Scott thinks Bradshaw had already made up his mind on a successor.

''I talked with Ric at length. It was my understanding he was going to shut it down and go with Armor,'' said Scott.

An aide to Brevard Sheriff Parker, Tom Jenkins, acknowledged that Parker talked with Scott about Armor. ''He remembers it more as a reference report on our experience up to that point,'' Jenkins said.

But Armor didn't start work in Brevard until July 1 -- after Scott's decision.

Jenkins said the bid was modified not to benefit any particular company, but ``to allow companies with experienced personnel to be considered.''

''Nobody asked for it,'' Jenkins said.

Oh great, another crook hired to run a state agency. You would have thought we would learn from our past mistakes... I guess not. Way to go Charlie (insert sarcasm here.)

I see this as a serious conflict of interest. She is never going to escape the "Armor" association.

This is a horrible appointment of a person who works for a shady, if not worse, organization and has extremely limited public health credentials. Keep in mind that the Florida Department of Health is a mainstay organization in homeland security, e.g. biological and chemical threats, emergency response, viral attacks. She has no experience whatsoever in these domains. Female and Hispanic and the Broward connection are ok, but not at the public expense. Charlie, you screwed up and you had better candidates. This is your first major screw up and it is big.

Press conference coverage:

http://cbs4.com/topstories/local_story_017135316.html

does she have a medical license in florida?

No, she does not. She lives in Boston.

Hey 3:43 and 3:45 (the same person, no doubt)...get your head out of your ass and read 3:30's newslink...

I read the news release. It doesn't answer the question regarding her licensure status. Has she ever managed a large complex organization. Being an advocate is one thing, being a manager is something else. In other words, it is not what you "believe" it is what you can do. Every democrat regards themselves as an advocate. So much crap. A disaster in the making.

Anyone who knows anything about prison health care knows that it attracts the dregs of the medical profession. Used to be that only the unlicensed Fillipino docs would do the work. Hasn't changed much. Prison health care is one step from quackery. By the way, any nexus between this Ros and Eliana Ros the Roseanne Roseanna Danna of Congress?

http://ww2.doh.state.fl.us/IRM00profiling/ProfileFINRESP.asp?LicId=65552&ProfNBR=1501

Ana Viamonte Ros M.D. is a superb physician who graduated at the top her class at U of Miami School of Medicine. Thereafter she did honors work in her Public Health Masters Degree from Harvard Univerity.

Sorry naysayers, Dr Ros is absolute top tier, rising star in the medical community. Yes, she has a licenced physician, is a member of the Florida Medical Association.

Finally, she is an expert policy wonk with incredible ideas at enhancing the quality of healthcare in Florida. She will run circles around all the previous appointees as Secretary of DOH.

Dr Ros is a nationally recognized expert on statewide access to healthcare, having an intricate knowledge of the health programs employed by all the other students.
Her temporary position in Broward is not reflective of her distinguished career as a policy pundit.

Dr Ros will make Florida very proud and, more importantly, will make Florida a safer place and a healthier place for all of us!

"Oh great, another crook hired to run a state agency"

Shame on you idiots. This is a super lady who will lead our state to greatness. She is taking a position of far less pay and far more headaches because she truly wants to be a public servant. She is brilliant and very highly respected by the medical community.

Get a life and stop leveling unfounded criticisms.

the last three posts are by the same toadie.

Kudos to Governor Crist!!

To paint everyone with the same brush (crooks) just because they've been asked to serve is so very unfair. There are those who actually serve well, with management and policy chops, who simply want to do what they've been asked to do with honor, dignity and discretion.

Charlie Crist and his team have done an excellent job selecting a leadership team.

Anyone critical of the selection of Ana Viamonte Ros is simply misinformed - she is a major upgrade over Secretary Francois They are not even in the same league.

Ana is a class act. Just sit back and watch her serve with honor and dignity.

Go Ana go!
First Cuban American Secretary of DOH!

Awesome selection! The only people who can find fault with this pick are those who had a vested interest in having someone else fill the position.

blog onanism?

Ros is the Cynthia Henderson of the Crist administration.

[RGL]

Is this appointment due to political connections or to qualifications? I have been licensed in Florida for 36 years, was quite active in the FMA for years, and I don't recall anything about this woman. In fact, I have never heard about her before, as have thousands of physicians. How come we know so little about her except that name Ros (I'm talking of Ileana)?

Governor Crist, I believe, made a huge mistake here, knowing there are better candidates. He will come to regret this appointment.

10:59 poster

You must be locked in a dark room reading films because Dr Ros is well known and highly respected by those of us in South Florida. If you openly state that you have no clue who she is, then please spend a little time doing your homework. Or is this a North Florida vs "...oh, those Cubans are taking over" issue??

I do not like the tone of your post sir/madam.

Dear FMA Past President RGL,
Your service to the FMA was noteworthy. I also was hoping that our mutual friend would receive this appointment, BUT, let's be fair about this! Serving as President of FMA is not a requisite for serving as Secretary of DOH. In fact, I would argue that these are very different skill sets. We are in dire need of universal health care in Florida. The uninsured are seeking medical safe haven in our over wrought emergency departments. The ER here at Mt Sinai is pushed to the brink.

Dr Manual Ros has been an esteemed colleague here at Mt Sinai for decades of an illustrious career. His reputation is not only statewide but also nationwide. His daughter, Ana, is a similarly fine physician who happens to be more interested in solving policy issues such as universal health care, health care disparities, over crowding of our emergency rooms, inadequate access for minorities, and other vital issues. Her lack of being an FMA insider does not diminish her credentials or her ability to serve our state in an exemplary fashion.

Casting aspersions at Ana Viamonte Ros M.D. because she is not part of your FMA insider cocktail crowd is highly inappropriate.

Please give her a fair chance. By the way, she is part of a truly fabulous physician family, replete with a century of serving patients, including the indigent and infirm who are also entitled to adequate health care.

Your DCMA and FMA friend

There were several very good physicians who applied for this position, but the educational background and skills that Dr. Viamonte Ros brings to the table make her a superstar candidate. This is truly an inspired choice by our Governor. Well done!

[Gene Smith]

Geez

Who knew that MD's had so much time on their hands that they are reading and posting to the Buzz Blog?

I do not agree that inmate healthcare attracts the dregs -- that used to be the case but all of the insurance bureaucracy is driving many of those who want to actually practice medicine into inmate healthcare. I am, however, very concerned by the Armor connection, and not just because of its implication in so many shady deals. While I think privatization works for inmate healthcare, it's not a model that I would like to see DOH move to in providing many of its other functions. I'm also very concerned about the Armor/Don Yeager/Bill Rubin connection.

Initial Press has been very favorable.
While Terminator eliminates uninsured in California, Charlie Crist and Dr Ana will eliminate uninsured in Florida. Sit back and watch this unfold.

All that I can say is that the doctor who has been around for 36 years and never met her - so what?

She is sketchy to say the least. The fact that she is coming from Armor (a correctional medical company), into a public health position. That scares me. What qualifies her to be DOH secretary? Has she served in some capacity of public health?

8:22 - what's the Armor/Don Yeager/Bill Rubin connection you're concerned about?

we all know that a connection with one person named eventually led to the downfall of one secretary...