{"id":42058,"date":"2025-11-11T05:18:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-11T05:18:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/42058\/"},"modified":"2025-11-11T05:18:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-11T05:18:10","slug":"jacksonville-councilman-alleges-fraud-conflicts-in-citys-telehealth-contracts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/42058\/","title":{"rendered":"Jacksonville councilman alleges fraud, conflicts in city\u2019s telehealth contracts"},"content":{"rendered":"

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 Jacksonville\u2019s telehealth program, Healthlink JAX,<\/a> and its contractor Telescope Health are facing scrutiny as city councilman Rory Diamond <\/a>calls for an investigation into the city\u2019s telehealth contracts.<\/p>\n

Diamond has raised concerns about potential misuse of taxpayer funds, conflicts of interest, and allegations of fraud related to the contracts with Telescope Health, which runs the city\u2019s telehealth services.<\/p>\n

Diamond tells News4JAX that he has received numerous calls and messages from government insiders and others alleging fraud and conflicts of interest involving the telehealth contracts.<\/p>\n

MORE: Jacksonville City Council hires consultant to address $23 million health care deficit<\/a> | City Council approves legislation to charge 5 Points businesses annual fee for safety improvements, foster growth<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI just want to get to the bottom of it and put it out in the sunshine so that the people of Jacksonville know one way or the other if their contracts are fair,\u201d Diamond said.<\/p>\n

He explained the allegations include government officials who may own entities receiving government money, diverting contracts to themselves. <\/p>\n

There are also claims of Medicare and Medicaid fraud, with patients being sent unnecessarily to emergency rooms, costing the city money.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf that\u2019s happening, that\u2019s a huge problem,\u201d Diamond said. \u201cI can\u2019t stand corruption. I\u2019m really angry about it, so I just want to get to the bottom of it, get it all out in the sunshine, let\u2019s ask the questions, let\u2019s get the answers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Diamond acknowledged that the telehealth program has handled thousands of calls and potentially saved millions by preventing unnecessary ER visits. However, he pointed out that the previous provider offered the service for free, while the city is now spending millions.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I think the people of Jacksonville should know whether or not we\u2019re paying millions of dollars for a service that was otherwise free,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Diamond also noted that the city\u2019s Office of Inspector General had recently reviewed the telehealth contract and gave Telescope Health a high score of 92.6 percent in their evaluation. <\/p>\n

He clarified that his concerns are specifically about Telescope Health\u2019s contract and spending.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we\u2019re paying a million and a half dollars or two million dollars to save one million, that doesn\u2019t make sense. If we were getting this for free and now we\u2019re paying two million, that doesn\u2019t make sense to me either,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Diamond emphasized that his investigation is not politically motivated.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was very critical of the last mayor. I did the JEA investigation. I believe in just clean government, so I want to get to the bottom of this one,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He compared the situation to the JEA scandal, saying the volume of calls and concerns he has received indicates a serious issue.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen my phone starts to ring over and over about a single thing, it usually means it\u2019s a big problem. That means we\u2019ve got to pull the strings, look at the documents, and go through a process to figure out what happened,\u201d Diamond said.<\/p>\n

The mayor\u2019s office responded to the upcoming emergency meeting called by the city\u2019s governing body, DOGE, with a statement emphasizing the competitive and transparent process behind awarding the contract to Telescope Health.<\/p>\n

Mayor Deegan\u2019s focus on making healthcare more affordable and accessible has been a priority since day one. We have saved families thousands and the overall healthcare system millions by helping people stay out of the emergency room for non-emergency situations.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s important to note that the virtual safety-net telehealth program now known as Healthlink Jax was competitively bid through an open and transparent RFP process, which resulted in Telescope Health being awarded the contract over two other proposals.<\/p>\n

Spokesperson for Mayor Donna Deegan’s office<\/p>\n

They also confirmed that the Office of Inspector General has reviewed the telehealth contract and found that the procurement process followed all required protocols.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2025 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 Jacksonville\u2019s telehealth program, Healthlink JAX, and its contractor Telescope Health are facing scrutiny as city…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":42059,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[832,12813,27886,116,118,117,278],"class_list":{"0":"post-42058","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-city-council","9":"tag-duval-doge","10":"tag-healthlink-jax","11":"tag-jacksonville","12":"tag-jacksonville-headlines","13":"tag-jacksonville-news","14":"tag-top-stories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42058","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42058"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42058\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42059"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42058"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}