Walter Reed's Winkenwerder under investigation

Feeding off the Pentagon

How did a former Bush official win an $800 million Department of Defense contract for his healthcare firm? That's what government watchdogs want to know.

By Mark Benjamin



In April 2007, William Winkenwerder Jr. retired from his position as assistant secretary for health affairs at the Department of Defense, where he had been in charge of all military healthcare. On June 1, he went to work for a Wisconsin-based private contractor named Logistics Health Inc., which hired him to serve on its board of directors and "advise and counsel LHI on business development," according to a company press release. It was a hire that seems to have paid quick dividends.

On June 13, 2007, the Department of Defense began accepting bids for a contract to give soldiers medical and dental exams before they head off to war. Logistics Health was among the companies bidding on the contract, which was worth hundreds of millions of dollars over four years. Before he left the DOD, in addition to running military healthcare, Winkenwerder had also been in charge of the office that wrote the contract.

On Sept. 25, Logistics Health won the contract despite bidding $800 million, meaning it was not the low bidder. At least one other company bid $100 million less.
go here for link back to VAWatchdog for the rest
http://www.vawatchdog.org/07/nf07/nfDEC07/nf120507-1.htm

If the name rings a bell for our wounded, it should. He was on the job during some of the worst conditions of Walter Reed became what they were. Remember Walter Reed is under the DOD? It isn't a VA hospital.

William Winkenwerder, Jr.
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William Winkenwerder Jr, M.D.William Winkenwerder, Jr. served as Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs beginning in October 2001, following nomination by President George W. Bush and confirmation by the U.S. Senate, Department of Defense. He left the Pentagon in mid-2007.[1]

In this position, Dr. Winkenwerder is responsible for overall supervision of the health and medical affairs of the Department of Defense (DoD). He serves as the principal advisor to the Secretary of Defense for all DoD health policies, programs, and activities, and exercises oversight of all DoD health resources.

A graduate of Davidson College, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, he completed his residency in Internal Medicine at North Carolina Memorial Hospital. He is Board Certified in internal medicine. He also completed a fellowship in epidemiology and health services research at the University of Pennsylvania and received his MBA from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Winkenwerder came to the Pentagon after 13 years of executive leadership positions in the healthcare industry. Most recently, he was Vice Chairman, Office of the Chief Executive, and Executive Vice President of Health Care Services for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts. He also held senior positions at Emory University and Prudential Health Care, and practiced primary care medicine.

Dr. Winkenwerder has spoken widely to various national audiences and written numerous articles on a broad array of health policy issues. He has appeared widely in the national media in his current position to communicate many Department of Defense actions and programs in support of the health and medical needs of the United States military.


Guantanamo medical policy
Winkenwerder announced a consolidation of the policy on the medical treatment of Guantanamo detainees on June 6, 2006.[2][3] The policy directive:[4]

States detainees do not have an expectation of medical record confidentiality. (section 4.4)
Permits force feeding detainees who are on a hunger strike. (section 4.7.1)
Permits psychologists to advise interrogators. (Enclosure 2, section 1)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Winkenwerder,_Jr.

The next time someone says they don't have a problem with people being on jobs they do not deserve and have not earned, remember this guy and what he did along with the rest of the people Bush put on their jobs. Too many suffer for Bush's reward of friendship.

We had suicides because they were not taken care of. We had wounded subjected to mold and other conditions we do not allow convicted felons to endure. Now we have this.