Nedra Dodds’ Contract: “Evaluate Clinical Care” Provided In ER

On Thursday, the day Juan F. Luis Hospital (JFL) was slated to lose certification when the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services would have stopped making reimbursement payments to the hospital, JFL released the full contract of an unlicensed plastic surgeon it hired in September who is currently under investigation in Georgia for two patient deaths at her Atlanta-area private practice.

According to the seven-page document emailed to the VI Consortium, the bulk of Nedra Dodds’ consulting services at JFL was that of providing “clinical process evaluation” for the troubled hospital. Dodds was to spend 70 percent of the two-month contract providing those services and the remaining 30 percent “enhancing educational instruction” and making “strategic development initiatives.”

A specific requirement of the contract said Dodds, the consultant, was to “evaluate clinical care provided by providers in the emergency room and hospital setting such as documentation, plan of care and follow up. The Consultant will report the findings of the evaluations to the Emergency Room Director.”

However, Dodds has been barred from performing any clinical work in the state of Georgia after the medical board there suspended her license on Feb. 28, 2014, so it is unclear why she was brought on at the Luis Hospital to “evaluate clinical  care provided by providers” in the hospital’s emergency room.

Prior to her termination from JFL on Oct. 4, the contract shows Dodds was slated to walk away with a total of $31,000 for work performed from Sept. 17 to Nov. 17. The VI Consortium has reached out to JFL in an effort to confirm whether or not the hospital paid out the full contracted amount at the time of Dodds’ termination last Saturday. At press time, the VI Consortium had not received responses to this and other related questions about Dodds’ contract.

As part of her contract stipulations, Dodds was also required to report to JFL’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Mavis Matthew. The supervision clause of Dodds’ contract states: “The “Business Consultant” is under the immediate supervision of the Chief Medical Officer for the execution of assignments, prioritization of projects, and validation of work assignments.”

In an interview earlier this week, Dr. Matthew deflected questions when asked about Dodds. The VI Consortium will have more on its interview with Dr. Matthew in a follow-up article later today.

In information received through the VI Consortium’s tip line, it was suggested that Dodds had a personal friendship with another doctor at JFL through attending the same medical school, thus providing a possible link to Dodds being contracted at the hospital. The VI Consortium has not confirmed this claim.

The VI Consortium has launched an effort to locate Dodds for comment.

Click here to read the full professional services contract between Dodds and Juan Luis Hospital.