(Above: Former HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy interviewed by Fox Business Network’s Neil Cavuto)
Former HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy gave a lengthy interview to Neil Cavuto on the Fox Business Network Wednesday evening coming off of his 70-month federal prison sentence for bribing former Democratic Gov. Don Siegelman.
Scrushy told Cavuto he’s not bitter about the federal government’s handling of his case, including the conviction that sent him to prison.
“You know, life goes on. I’ve got a family and… a future. You just have to put things behind you,” Scrushy said. “I can’t keep drinking the poison. You’ve got to move forward. You know, I’m an optimist, Neil… The glass is always half-full with me and I believe the future is bright and I’m always trying to find the good in everything I do… I’m really not bitter. It’s behind me and I’m moving on.”
Cavuto quickly moved to Scrushy’s area of expertise — healthcare — and asked him to comment on ObamaCare and its problematic rollout. Perhaps surprisingly, Scrushy does not see ObamaCare as a total disaster for the healthcare industry. Instead, he said it presents business opportunities to companies operating in the healthcare sector.
“[B]ack in 1982, 1983 when the health care laws changed and we went from a cost-based reimbursement system to a diagnostic-group related program, it cut about a third of all the profits out of the ancillaries and hospitals,” Scrushy recalled. “It created an opportunity to build a new health care model that was more efficient to move patients through the system and get them off the health care dollar and that’s the grounds, the foundation we built HealthSouth on. Right now today, I see a similar change… Anytime you have change, you open doors to new opportunities… I think all the real entrepreneurs in the health care system are chomping at the bit now to try and make lemonade out of the situation. I believe there are a lot of them that will.”
Scrushy conceded that ObamaCare’s rollout has been disappointing, but said the president should not have to take the blame.
“I truly don’t believe you can blame the president on this,” Scrushy said. “…If I hired a group like this to do that and they failed, then I hope that I wouldn’t be blamed for it. But the bottom line is it’s not right. It’s a disaster.”
Switching gears, Cavuto laid out a theory that Scrushy was targeted by the government in the same way bank CEOs are now being pursued.
“With what’s going on today with the government targeting a lot of these investment banks and a lot of their CEOs, they seem… to be looking for their proverbial head on a stick,” Cavuto said. “I had argued back when you were targeted… that they wanted some prominent big names… they needed those heads on a stick. You were one of them. And I’m wondering now whether it’s the banks’ turn… What do you think?
“I have to be careful what I say,” Scrushy said cautiously. “I’ve been a target of the government. I don’t want to rile up a bunch of prosecutors to find something wrong with something else… I have stood in court rooms where prosecutors said things that were absolutely not true at all and none of them were held accountable for their actions and for the things that they said. I think our system is broken. When you have plaintiff’s attorneys and you have prosecutors that can stand in a court room in front of a federal judge or a state judge and just say anything they want to and not be held accountable for the lies and the things they say. I mean, we’re living in a country right now where people really need to wake up and take a real hard look at our justice system and what’s going on. I feel like I was mistreated. I certainly was not guilty of any crime. I did time in prison that I should have never done.”
Scrushy also defended former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman, saying he was wrongly imprisoned as well.
“You’ve got a governor sitting in prison right now — five years in prison. The man never did anything wrong,” Scrushy proclaimed. “I mean, he may have done some things wrong in his life, but he certainly did not commit this crime.”
The former HealthSouth CEO is no longer legally allowed to head a public company, but he told Cavuto he hopes to help and advise companies in the future.
“[I] don’t know that I would ever serve on the board of a public company or even want to be the CEO of a public company again,” Scrushy said. “But I do want to be involved in building companies and helping companies and advising companies. Right now is really a great time.”
Follow Jeff on Twitter @Jeff_Poor
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