Overview
- City Council’s DOGE committee approved a detailed list of questions and document requests to the Mayor’s Office, Telescope Health, and other agencies as it investigates alleged fraud and conflicts tied to the Healthlink Jax contract.
- Rory Diamond released a five-page inquiry, was tapped to lead a new subcommittee, and said any findings could be referred to state or federal investigators, while noting a referral may prove unnecessary.
- Requests cover communications from July 1, 2023, to the present involving Telescope, UF Health, Emergency Resource Group, Jacksonville Fire and Rescue, and RightSite Health.
- Telescope Health reiterated that it has not engaged in fraud, cannot and has not billed Medicare or Medicaid for Healthlink Jax patients, and reported 6,800-plus calls and $11.1 million in cost redirections, figures some council members questioned.
- Mayor Donna Deegan’s administration said it will cooperate, emphasized the inspector general already cleared the procurement process, and defended Healthlink Jax as saving money for emergency rooms and uninsured patients, while Council member Matt Carlucci criticized the DOGE inquiry as overreaching.