Raj Khanna considers sports medicine a labor of love, so for years he provided his services to Chicago State University free of charge.
Khanna began his relationship with Chicago State in 1996 and signed a five-year contract with the school in 2007. The contract required Khanna’s company, Advanced Occupational Medicine Specialists, to provide physical exams for CSU athletes. The company also provided trainers at all home basketball games.
Although Khanna did not charge for his work, he paid the trainers who worked the sidelines, money that was supposed to come from Chicago State.
Payment from the school was always spotty, Khanna said, but Chicago State always came through in the end, often after Advanced Occupational Medicine Specialists threatened to halt services.
Earlier this year, however, the situation went from annoying to downright untenable. Khanna said the school stopped paying, then quit returning his calls.
In February, with Chicago State’s bill totaling $43,074.64, Khanna sent the school a letter terminating the contract.
“It was very difficult,” he said. “I had been taking care of them since 1996. They just stopped responding to any of our e-mails.”
Khanna said it was one thing to volunteer his time, but he could not continue paying his trainers without getting reimbursed by Chicago State.
Anxious to get its money from the school, Michela Pagano, director of sports medicine at Advanced Occupational Medicine Specialists, e-mailed What’s Your Problem? in late November.
“We can’t just keep providing, in essence, free services,” she said. “It was very difficult, but we just looked at the contract. They obviously broke the rules.”
Pagano said she simply wants Chicago State to pay its bills.
“It’s pretty frustrating. We enjoy providing the services. It’s the fun part of our work, to cover events and help students,” she said. “From a financial standpoint, though, it doesn’t make sense.”
The Problem Solver called Chicago State and asked why the university hadn’t paid Advanced Occupational Services what it owes.
On Thursday, the university e-mailed a statement from Glenn Meeks, the school’s vice president of administration and finance.
“Chicago State University’s contract with Advanced Occupational Medicine Specialists began in 2004 and all invoices were consistently paid until the end of October 2009,” Meeks said. “When we had a changeover in personnel, somehow this contract was not assigned a purchase order number, so it did not get paid.”
Meeks said Chicago State had rectified the situation, “and they received payment in full this week. We regret the delay.”
The Problem Solver called Khanna for his response. He said Meeks’ statement sounded great, but he saw the sequence of events differently.
“First, we were never ‘consistently’ paid,” Khanna said. “Every year, we were given a hassle and would get paid about a year later when we threatened to not provide services for the upcoming year.”
As for Advanced Occupational Medicine Specialists receiving its $43,074.64 last week, it didn’t happen, Khanna said.
“It sounds like the same excuses and delay tactics we’ve heard before,” he said Thursday afternoon.
The Problem Solver called Chicago State again and asked why Meeks claimed Khanna and his colleagues were paid when, in fact, they hadn’t been.
A spokeswoman for Meeks on Friday said the school was sending the money via overnight mail that afternoon.
On Monday, Advanced Occupational Medicine Specialists received two checks totaling $42,761.64
It wasn’t the full $43,074.64, but it was close enough for Khanna.
“It’s a $313 difference,” he said. “I’m more than happy to write that off.”
