Health-care contractor at Hanford investigated

By The Associated Press

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YAKIMA — The U.S. Department of Energy announced yesterday it has begun formally investigating a private contractor that monitors and provides health care to workers at the Hanford nuclear reservation.

The department's Office of Independent Oversight and Safety Assurance last week began investigating allegations of fraud, supervisor misconduct and medical-records mismanagement at the Hanford Environmental Health Foundation, a nonprofit Department of Energy contractor.

Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham also asked the department's inspector general to investigate the allegations.

In a five-page news release, the Hanford Environmental Health Foundation denied the allegations yesterday, saying independent investigations last fall concluded the claims were false.

The announcement follows several inquiries in recent months into whether Hanford workers have been harmed by vapors from 177 underground tanks that hold about 53 million gallons of radioactive waste.

Allegations of misconduct by the foundation include violation of patients' medical-privacy rights, employee harassment and mismanagement of employee medical care, the Energy Department said in a news release.

Since 1965, the foundation has been a contractor to the Energy Department, providing medical services to more than 11,000 federal and contract employees at Hanford.

The group lost out in the competitive-bid process in January, however, and its current contract expires in March.

The nonprofit Government Accountability Project published a report in September 2003, contending toxic vapors escaping from the waste-storage tanks had hurt workers.

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