Malene Davis, founding president and chief visionary officer of the Arthurdale-based hospice WV Caring, is volunteering her time to serve a WVU Health Sciences journal club.
The club will be administered by Health Sciences faculty and will meet monthly to evaluate articles of academic, scientific, clinical, medical and philosophical literature, WVU said in a recent release.
Responding to an email inquiry about Davis’ involvement, WVU said, “Malene Davis is voluntarily offering her expertise in palliative care with students who wish to participate in learning more about how medical journal review can help both patients and providers in end-of-life care cases. Students do not receive credit, and their participation in the club is completely voluntary.”
Articles discussed during meetings will focus on hospice, palliative care and post-acute care, the release said.
Davis said in the release, “We are excited to take a new step to build interest and awareness of advanced illness care and the concept of ‘care beyond cure’ by starting a journal club.”
WV Caring did not respond to a request for comment for this report.
The Dominion Post has published several reports about Davis.
In September, The Dominion Post reported that Capital Caring, the Falls Church, Va.-based hospice organization formerly associated with WV Caring, agreed to pay a $3.1 million civil settlement regarding allegations of Medicare overpayments for bills submitted to the Medicare Program for hospice services, according to a release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia.
The overpayments occurred during the period of 2010-15, when Davis was president and CEO of Capital Caring. During that period, Davis also carried the title of founding president of WV Caring. She stepped down from both organizations in July 2018 but returned to WV Caring last March under the title chief visionary officer and founding president.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, “The overpayments were the result of claims Capital Caring submitted to Medicare for hospice services for patients who the government alleged either did not meet the hospice eligibility guidelines for the Medicare Program, Title XVIII of the Social Security Act or for whom the hospice clinical record information maintained by Capital Caring was insufficient to support Medicare hospice coverage.”
In July 2018, The Dominion Post reported on allegations from former Capital Caring employees Davis engaged in “luxurious and wasteful spending” of company money and operated the company in an atmosphere of bullying and intimidation.
Among the documented examples of spending was a trip to a 2014 leadership retreat in California. Davis ordered her flight upgraded to Business/First Class for an additional $743, for a total round-trip airfare of $1,168.19. A private dinner for four cost $1,260.
All witnesses but one used the term “bully” to describe Davis.
“It’s a hostile work environment for sure. I don’t think there’s anyone who doesn’t live in fear of Malene,” one said. Another said, “She’s always been abusive.”
One witness testified to suffering from PTSD and needing counseling. Another, in an April 2019 story, testified to being hospitalized with job-ending stress.
People who displeased or disagreed with Davis might be fired or transferred to lesser jobs with lower pay where they have no choice but to resign, witnesses said. In one instance, three people lost their jobs because one person disagreed with her.
Davis used employees as personal assistants, sending them to her house to water plants, set up sprinklers, get dry cleaning and pick up prescriptions. Employees would run her personal errands off the clock and be required to make up the time.
During the years 2008-13, Davis served on the board of the American Pain Foundation. Davis characterizes APF –— which closed its doors in May 2012, as a “national organization for people who are living with pain.”
But WVU Health System disagrees with that view.
In separate but similar lawsuits regarding the national opioid crisis filed in April and this month in Marshall County Circuit Court, WVU Health System and the other plaintiffs describe APF and several similar organizations as front groups, largely funded by the opioid industry, that “amplified or issued messages that reinforce industry efforts to promote opioid prescription and use, including guidelines and policies minimizing the risk of addiction and promoting opioids for chronic pain.”
The suits name APF as the most prominent of the alleged front groups. “APF’s board of directors was largely comprised of doctors who were on the marketing co-conspirators’ payrolls, either as consultants or as speakers for medical events. The close relationship between APF and the marketing co-conspirators demonstrates APF’s lack of independence in its finances, management and mission.”
Also on the APF board were Drs. Scott Fishman, Perry Fine and Russell Portenoy, whom the suits term KOLs — Key Opinion Leaders — who were allegedly funded by the industry to allegedly “present the appearance that unbiased and reliable medical research supporting the broad use of opioid therapy for chronic pain had been conducted and was being reported on by independent medical professionals.”
Fine, a Utah-based anesthesiologist and pain management physician, served Capital Caring as a “strategic advisor” and left at the same time Davis did. He denied the allegations against him in media interviews and in a phone conversation with The Dominion Post.
Davis was instrumental in creating the Perry G. Fine M.D. Pain Lecture Series at WVU; the 10th annual lecture was in October 2017. The series was suspended following The Dominion Post’s July 2018 reports.When the U.S. Senate opened an investigation into APF in May 2012, the board voted to dissolve the organization.
The Dominion Post reminded WVU of its previous reports about Davis, but the university declined to comment on its involvement with her beyond the statement cited above. In answer to a question clarifying her role, WVU said, “There is no title. There is no position. She is a volunteer, pure and simple. No more.”
Tweet David Beard @dbeardtdp Email dbeard@dominionpost.com
