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Regular Session, 2013
HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 105
BY REPRESENTATIVES HOFFMANN, ADAMS, ANDERS, BADON, BARROW,
STUART BISHOP, BURFORD, HENRY BURNS, CHAMPAGNE, CHANEY,
CONNICK, COX, GAROFALO, GUILLORY, HARRIS, HAVARD, HENRY,
HENSGENS, HILL, HODGES, HOLLIS, HOWARD, IVEY, KLECKLEY, LEBAS,
LOPINTO, LORUSSO, MACK, JAY MORRIS, ORTEGO, PEARSON, POPE,
PYLANT, RICHARD, SCHRODER, SEABAUGH, SIMON, STOKES,
THOMPSON, WHITNEY, PATRICK WILLIAMS, AND WILLMOTT
A RESOLUTION
To urge and request various state and local departments to take certain actions regarding the
commercial construction and operation by Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast of a
facility in Louisiana to provide abortions, and to urge suspension of grants and
reimbursements pursuant to any contract or Medicaid provider agreement pending
investigation of fraudulent billing practices alleged in two federal lawsuits.
WHEREAS, Planned Parenthood Federation of America is a private nonprofit
organization that provides sexuality education and reproductive health services, and is the
largest provider of abortions in the United States; and
WHEREAS, Planned Parenthood facilities in New Orleans and Baton Rouge have
been operating since 1984 to provide sexuality education and reproductive health services,
but have never before provided abortions; and
WHEREAS, in 2005, Planned Parenthood of Houston and Southeast Texas entered
into a management agreement with Planned Parenthood of Louisiana and the Mississippi
Delta; and
WHEREAS, in 2010, the non-abortion-providing Planned Parenthood facilities in
Louisiana merged with the abortion-providing affiliates of Planned Parenthood Houston and
Southeast Texas, Inc., to form the new umbrella organization headquartered in Houston
known as Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast, referred to hereafter as "PPGC", which operates
twelve clinics: seven in the Houston area, three in southeast Texas, and two in Louisiana;
and
WHEREAS, PPGC has purchased three parcels of land on Claiborne Avenue in New
Orleans and plans to construct a four million two hundred thousand dollar, seven thousand ENROLLEDHR NO. 105
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square foot facility where they intend to start performing abortions in Louisiana, according
to their own legislative testimony and fundraising materials; and
WHEREAS, the state of Louisiana has various economic incentive programs for
commercial construction and labor for certain businesses; and
WHEREAS, local permits for the commercial construction of facilities that intend
to seek state licensure as an outpatient abortion facility should require the permitting
authority's approval of plans for the sanitary disposal of human remains for the safety and
welfare of Louisiana residents; and
WHEREAS, in addition to abortion services, PPGC also intends its Claiborne
Avenue facility to provide other services including contraception and sexually transmitted
disease testing that are available at public health units and at nonprofit facilities throughout
the Louisiana region under the same Medicaid pricing structure used by Planned Parenthood;
and
WHEREAS, the two clinics in New Orleans and Baton Rouge receive government
payments pursuant to a Medicaid provider agreement issued by the Department of Health
and Hospitals which total approximately one million dollars a year in fee-for-service
Medicaid reimbursements for non-abortion reproductive health services, according to
legislative committee testimony given by a PPGC representative; and
WHEREAS, the pre-2010 Louisiana Medicaid provider agreement was with the
non-abortion providing Planned Parenthood of Louisiana and the Mississippi Delta, and that
provider agreement is now with PPGC whose Texas clinics currently provide elective
abortion, and whose planned Claiborne Avenue clinic in New Orleans intends to provide
abortion; and
WHEREAS, federal and Louisiana laws regulate which services are reimbursable
under Medicaid and provide for the practice of employees of public or private social service
agencies with regard to abortion; and
WHEREAS, R.S. 40:1299.34.5 provides that no public funds shall be used in any
way for, to assist in, or to provide facilities for an abortion, except when the abortion is
medically necessary to prevent the death of the mother; and ENROLLEDHR NO. 105
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WHEREAS, R.S. 40:1299.34 provides that no person employed in any public or
private social service agency, by contract or otherwise, which is a recipient of any form of
governmental assistance, shall require or recommend that any woman have an abortion; and
WHEREAS, a PPGC representative has stated publicly in legislative committee
testimony that Planned Parenthood, as part of comprehensive pregnancy counseling,
provides options for all available resources including abortion referral if requested; and
WHEREAS, two lawsuits by former employees are pending against PPGC alleging
up to five million dollars in Medicaid fraud pursuant to the federal False Claims Act, 31
U.S.C. 3729 et seq., and such lawsuits include the following:
(1) An allegation that PPGC trained and instructed the employees at its twelve
regional clinics to bill the government for medical services that were not medically
necessary, medical services that were not actually provided, services that are not covered by
Medicaid, and to falsify information in patient medical charts.
(2) An allegation that employees from each PPGC clinic were trained in PPGC's
corporate scheme for maximizing clinic profits through the Women's Health Program,
Medicaid, and Title XX grants and reimbursements, including an express policy of billing
these government health care programs for a predetermined list of reimbursable services for
every eligible patient who visited the clinic, regardless of whether those services were
medically necessary or ever actually provided to the patient.
(3) An allegation that a PPGC memorandum was given to employees which
explicitly instructed them on how to fraudulently bill government programs for post-abortion
patient visits, including an express instruction to document in a patient chart that the reason
for the patient's visit was to have the Well Woman Exam in instances when the patient had
indicated that the purpose of the visit was a post-abortion follow-up.
(4) An allegation that members of Planned Parenthood's key management team
instructed PPGC staff to provide auditors with charts that had been "fixed" regarding
abortion on minor girls to ensure that required documentation, especially with regard to
parental consent and non-coercion, was included in each client file; and
WHEREAS, disregard for parental involvement for minors and non-coercion laws
endangers the health and safety of Louisiana's women and girls, and facilitates
sex-trafficking, sexual tourism, and prostitution of minors; and ENROLLEDHR NO. 105
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WHEREAS, the state of Louisiana has a responsibility to ensure that organizations
operate in compliance with all laws, and if laws are being violated, to take appropriate
actions against such organizations; and
WHEREAS, it is in the interest of this state to protect the fiscal and programmatic
integrity of the medical assistance program.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the House of Representatives of the
Legislature of Louisiana does hereby urge and request the Department of Health and
Hospitals, the division of administration, the legislative auditor, and the office of the
inspector general to investigate and monitor the practices of Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast
to determine whether the organization is in compliance with all state and federal laws and
regulations, including but not limited to provisions concerning state funding of abortion
facilities, R.S. 40:1299.34.5, the counseling or recommendation of abortion by state
contractors, R.S. 40:1299.34, the mandatory reporting of child sexual abuse pursuant to
Articles 603, 609, and 610 of the Louisiana Children's Code, and R.S. 14:80 regarding
felony carnal knowledge of a juvenile, parental consent for minors seeking abortion
requirements, R.S. 40:1299.35.5, and the informed consent and signage requirements of R.S.
40:1299.35.5.1 and 1299.35.6.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the House of Representatives of the Legislature
of Louisiana does hereby urge and request the Department of Health and Hospitals to
immediately suspend all grants and reimbursements pursuant to its Medicaid provider
agreement or any other state contract with Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast during the
pendency of an onsite investigation conducted in accordance with the Medical Assistance
Programs Integrity Law, R.S. 46:437.1 et seq.; the Surveillance and Utilization Review
Subsystem (SURS) Rule, LAC 50:I.4101 et seq.; all relevant state and federal laws and
regulations; and in light of a thorough legal review and independent investigation by the
Department of Health and Hospitals, the legislative auditor, and the state inspector general
of the allegations made in the federal court complaints and related discovery and court
pleadings regarding the alleged fraudulent billing practices of Planned Parenthood Gulf
Coast in the matters of Reynolds v. Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast, No. 9:09-cv-00124
(E.D. TX, Lufkin Division), and United States and the State of Texas ex rel. Abby Kristen ENROLLEDHR NO. 105
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Johnson v. Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast, No. CV-H-cv-3496 (S.D. Texas, Houston
Division).
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Health and Hospitals, the
legislative auditor, and the state inspector general shall report the results of the investigations
conducted to the House Committee on Health and Welfare upon completion of the
investigations, and no later than the date of convening of the 2014 Regular Session of the
Legislature.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the House of Representatives of the Legislature
of Louisiana does hereby urge and request that any application for economic incentives of
any kind filed by Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast or any of its abortion-providing affiliates
to construct, purchase, or operate any facility, or to employ any individuals therein, be
denied by the Department of Economic Development, the Louisiana Workforce
Commission, or any other department, and that any application for any economic incentive
filed by Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast be reported to the House Committee on Health and
Welfare and the House Committee on Commerce by the department receiving such
application.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the House of Representatives of the Legislature
of Louisiana does hereby urge and request that the City of New Orleans Department of
Safety and Permits and the permitting authority of any other city in which Planned
Parenthood Gulf Coast seeks to construct or operate an outpatient abortion facility require
plans for the sanitary disposal of human remains for the safety and welfare of Louisiana
residents.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to the
secretary of the Department of Health and Hospitals, the commissioner of administration,
the secretary of the Department of Economic Development, the executive director of the
Louisiana Workforce Commission, the legislative auditor, the state inspector general, and
the City of New Orleans Department of Safety and Permits.
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATI VES