The Tulare Local Health Care District (TLHCD) has settled its lawsuit against a former member of its board of directors, Dr. Parmod Kumar. Kumar, who was removed from office in a 2017 recall election, was alleged to have encouraged the use of district funds to pay for a private lawsuit against another physician. Kumar has agreed to pay the TLHCD $500,000 over the next four years.
It was the last remaining civil action resulting from years of gross illegal mismanagement of TLHCD and Tulare Regional Medical Center (TRMC).
Kumar Was the Last of the HCCA Supporters
Kumar was the last director remaining in a lawsuit against the TLHCD board members who maintained hardline support for the company that had assumed control of the district and its assets.
The hastily-assembled management company – Health Care Conglomerate Associates (HCCA) – had entered into a contract to run TLHCD that cost the hospital district and its voters millions. It eventually led the district into bankruptcy, which forced the indefinite closure of TRMC.
The hospital has since reopened as Adventist Tulare.
The disgraced CEO of HCCA, Dr Yorai “Benny” Benzeevi, was charged with dozens of felony and misdemeanor charges by the Tulare County District Attorney’s Office. Last February, Benzeevi pleaded no contest to six felonies and two misdemeanor crimes. He received probation, house arrest and community service hours, and was ordered to pay $2 million restitution to TLHCD and $400,000 to Southern Inyo Healthcare District (SIHD).
Also pleading no contest to a felony, public conflict-of-interest was HCCA CFO Alan Germany. He paid $100,000 restitution to TLHCD, $50,000 to SIHD, and was sentenced to probation and community service. Neither was required to issue a statement of remorse to the victims of their crimes.
Criminal prosecution of Bruce Greene is ongoing. Greene, an attorney with the BakerHostetler law firm, served concurrently as both legal counsel to HCCA and TLHCD, creating an alleged conflict of interest. He too faces multiple charges stemming from his involvement with HCCA, and TLHCD and SIHD.
Kumar Issues a ‘Formal Public Apology’
Kumar, as part of his settlement with the district, agreed to issue what a TLHCD statement called a “formal public apology.”
The text of Kumar’s brief, unaddressed statement follows:
STATEMENT OF PARMOD KUMAR, M.D., RELATED TO TLHD (sic)
I understand the concerns expressed by the board of Directors of the Tulare Local Healthcare (sic) District and the community related to the Healthcare (sic) Conglomerates Associates’ management of the district and Tulare Regional Medical Center as well as the criminal charges brought against some of the people involved. I recognize that I was on the board during part of the HCCA’s management of the hospital’s operation and to the extent any of my acts or omissions as a director may have related to the outcome, I apologize.
s/ Parmod Kumar 3/6/25
TLHCD’s public statement on the Kumar matter calls HCCA’s agreement with the district “highly controversial.” In fact, the contract left the district hamstrung by financial liabilities, providing HCCA with upsides and leaving the district with little means to avoid the debt. It also set Benzeevi’s payoff at up to $6 million annually, the district’s statement says.
Additionally, in 2017, Kumar supported a district vote that allowed HCCA to borrow $22 million under the district’s name without board oversight.
“It is widely regarded as one of the worst management contracts in public hospital history,” said Kevin Northcraft, current president of the TLHCD board.
Lowlights of Kumar’s TLHCD Tenure as a Director
Kumar’s terms on the TLHCD board were marked by frequent controversy. But the physician was already carrying baggage from past misdeeds when he was elected.
In 2013, former TLHCD board member Roger McPhetridge alleged that Kumar was seeing as many as 64 patients during four-hour shifts at the district’s Federally Qualified Health Center; FQHC standards only allowed a doctor to treat four patients per hour. According to reporting by the Financial Times of London, a Department of Justice investigation found Kumar could have pocketed $800,000 from 2010 to 2012 while working under an illegal contract.
Kumar and his wife, Dr. Parul Gupta, resigned from their positions at the district’s FQHC during the course of the investigation.
Similar concerns around overpayments to physicians resulted in action against the district in 2009, when the district entered into a corporate integrity agreement with the US Department of Health and Human Services and paid $2.4 million to the government to settle allegations of illegal reimbursements.
Other unsettling events occurred during his time on the TLHCD board. Federal Build America funds were misspent, resulting in higher area property taxes in 2015-17. The district’s lawsuit against Kumar claims he and the rest of the board voted to spend $78,000 of district money to fund court action against fellow physician Dr. Abraham Betre on Kumar’s behalf.
In that same year, 2016, Kumar and the board voted to fire the TRMC’s medical executive committee (MEC). Betre was president of the MEC at the time. Suspiciously, when the MEC was dismissed, Kumar was facing a deadline to complete anger management training the MEC had ordered him to undergo. Had the MEC not been removed, Kumar faced losing his privileges to practice medicine at TRMC.
Kumar and Benzeevi’s Antics Gain National Attention
In January of 2017, as the end was approaching for HCCA and Kumar’s term as a director, Kumar voted against a motion by two newly elected board members to hire an independent attorney to represent TLHCD. At the time, BakerHostetler’s Greene was acting as counsel to both HCCA and TLHCD. Greene and his firm settled a lawsuit against them by the district – which alleged negligence in not disclosing potential conflicts of interest – with a $3m payment in 2023 .
The vote Kumar supported to give HCCA access to $22 million in credit based on TLHCD’s assets came in June of that year. But the biggest outrage came later that year. With Kumar facing likely recall by unhappy voters, Benzeevi formulated a particularly underhanded scheme to foil the election. He hired an Israeli private intelligence company, Psy-Group, to interfere.
The laughably bumbling effort by Psy-Group to slander and intimidate Kumar’s opponent cost Benzeevi and HCCA $230,000, and it proved entirely ineffective. Kumar lost the recall vote by a landslide. It also resulted in a lengthy investigative report in the New Yorker magazine that gained nationwide attention.
But the shenanigans weren’t over. The board voted to hold Kumar’s recall election at one of the latest possible dates, which allowed HCCA time to ink a deal that generated $3 million revenue for TLHCD. However, the money was rerouted to HCCA as payment for services.
Kumar lost his seat, with 80 percent of voters going against him. One of Kumar’s last actions while serving as a director was to demand a recount of the landslide vote. The move further delayed the seating of his opponent and ultimately the removal of HCCA.
End of a ‘Troubled Chapter’ for Tulare and the TLHCD
While the prosecution of Greene goes on, settlement with Kumar marks an end to the district’s legal efforts to recover from the damage HCCA, Benzeevi and Germany – and perhaps Greene – did to the Tulare Local Health Care District. At least for now.
The district’s statement on the settlement refers to Kumar’s tenure on the board as a “troubled chapter” in TLHCD’s ongoing operations.
“There’s no more district lawsuits out there,” said current TLHCD CEO Randy Dodd. “We’re just anxious to get back to the business of the district.”
While some felt the terms of the settlement were too lenient on Kumar, after nearly a decade of unravelling the confusion, the TLHCD district directors felt the time was right to move on and focus on other things.
“I believe the board felt this was the best settlement without going to court,” Dodd said.
He said settling was likely the wisest move to avoid further chaos and fallout.
“There’s a couple reasons, one is obviously the cost,” Dodd said. “There’s also risk in it. You’re at the mercy of a jury of your peers. It can go anywhere. This lets the district put this behind us.”
The district is now free to focus on its core mission. The future, Dodd said, looks bright.
“It’s about what we can now do to support this community and what it deserves,” he said. “You pay off the bankruptcy. You pay off your debts. You have revenue coming in. What can you do to benefit the community?”
Citizens for Hospital Accountability reacts
Citizens for Hospital Accountability, an organization formed in response to HCCA’s management of the hospital, supported Kumar’s recall and Senovia Gutierrez, the candidate who ultimately replaced him.
The organization provided the Valley Voice with a response to Kumar’s apology and the settlement.
“Parmod Kumar’s “apology” statement does not meet the criteria for an apology. An apology is defined as a regretful acknowledgment of an offense or failure. Regret is what is missing. In fact, Dr. Kumar would still be on the hospital district board, if not for his recall led by Citizens for Hospital Accountability. He fought against his recall even after the results were resoundingly and overwhelmingly in favor of his recall (80.6%),” the statement reads.
“Dr. Kumar had been a board member for twenty years. His only regret would be that all of this happened to him and his power was diminished. His statement reads like a victim’s statement, when in reality, many patients and employees were the actual victims. Dr. Kumar falsely states that he was merely on the board for “part” of the time HCCA managed the hospital. He was on the board the entire time HCCA was allowed to extract every dime possible from the hospital without any pushback from the board. It wasn’t until he relinquished his stranglehold on the board, that HCCA no longer was allowed to continue its fleecing of the district,” it continues.
The full statement is available here.
District Faced Pressure to Settle from Kumar’s Friends
While the TLHCD directors and their attorneys were wrestling with how to end their suit against Kumar, they were also being pressured to “move on” from their efforts by a group of prominent local citizens, including current and former community leaders.
An undated letter was circulated through the community that called for an end to the “personal vendetta against Dr. Kumar.” The district’s attempt to recoup the money spent suing Betre was not “a valid suit for damages.”
“In the best interest of our community, we believe its (sic) time to move on,” the letter states. “We encourage the hospital board to put our tax dollars to better use than harassing Dr. Kumar.”
The letter ends with a call for a united Tulare and a better future. It was signed by Brian and Patty Watte, Tony Taylor, Bob Wilbur, Sue Shannon, Tone De Rose, former State Assembly Member Connie Conway, Joanne Watte and former Tulare mayor Craig Vejvoda.
“We wrote the letter and we stand by everything in the letter,” said Conway. “How many investigations do you need? It seemed like a vendetta. It’s time to move on.”
Loyalty May Have Been Behind Kumar’s Decisions
Conway has known Kumar for many years and holds him in high esteem.
“Dr. Kumar is my neighbor and my friend,” she said. “I believe he saved my mother’s life.”
Those who signed the letter felt the district was too vehement in its dealings with Kumar.
“It just felt personal,” she said. “The DA said there’s nothing there. The FBI or whoever said there’s nothing there. It felt personal and vindictive.”
Conway, however, said she was not aware of the 2013 investigation into Kumar. But she still maintains the response from the district’s board of directors went too far.
“A couple of them on there (the board), it felt a little over the top,” Conway said. “That’s just me.”
And she supports Kumar’s motivations for his actions as a TLHCD director.
“I think we all have certain expectations when it comes to situations like this. The group of friends who signed the letter, it (district action to sue Kumar) just seemed more personal (to them),” Conway said. “I believe Dr Kumar thought he was doing the best for the district.”
The group believes Kumar was maintaining his loyalty to Benzeevi. Because of that, he took many unpopular actions to support HCCA while it was under heavy siege from an increasingly confused and angry public, which had lost faith in the company and its executives.
“When you trust somebody, when you hire somebody, it’s hard to do that,” Conway said. “You make that decision, the whole board might not agree with it, but that’s our guy.”
Letter-Writers Fear Fallout from Kumar ‘Incident’
Those who continue to support Kumar in his dealings with the TLHCD also wanted the district to seek a lower amount of financial compensation.
“I don’t know if this serves any purpose,” Conway said.
She fears the district’s dogged treatment of Kumar in gaining restitution will discourage others from taking leadership roles in the future. The TLHCD has had difficulties finding community members willing to step up when seats became open or were up for election.
“I think incidents like this will make people hesitate to serve on these boards,” Conway said.
And, like those making the legal decisions for TLHCD now, Kumar’s supporters worry about the costs involved. They say the agreed restitution – $500,000 – could also make future would-be seekers of public office think twice about running.
“At this point, it is what it is. Anyone who’s had any legal dealings, you’re spending so much on lawyers, what is the real cost?” Conway said. “I think this happens with a lot of people. At some point the loss exceeds the value of what you’re trying to do in your pursuit. On both sides. The lawyers are making money.”