Tufts lawsuit alleges kidney foundation owes it more than $1.4 million

By Chelsea Conaboy, Globe Staff

In a lawsuit filed in the US District Court of Massachusetts yesterday, Tufts Medical Center alleged that the National Kidney Foundation has failed to pay more than $1.4 million owed for research and assistance the hospital provided in developing guidelines for diagnosing and treating kidney disease. The foundation had not filed a response, as of this evening.

The two parties began working together in 1997 and signed a three-year contract in 2009, the lawsuit said.

Hospital spokeswoman Brooke Tyson Hynes said the foundation’s grant money supports the Tufts Center for Kidney Disease Guideline Development and Implementation and the work of four physicians. The foundation has recognized the center’s director, Dr. Andrew Levey, with several awards, including naming him a 2011 Outstanding Medical Honoree.

The hospital has a “long and great relationship” with the foundation, Hynes said. “This is not something we wanted to do. It was certainly a last step.”

The lawsuit alleges that the hospital is owed $1.4 million for work already completed and another $912,258 for work to be completed before the end of the contract in June. The foundation has cancelled several meetings scheduled to discuss the dispute, and the hospital believes the foundation “has no intention of paying” either sum, the filing said.

“The National Kidney Foundation and Tufts University Medical Center have had several confidential conversations surrounding NKF’s practice guidelines,” foundation spokeswoman Ellie Schlam said in an e-mail. “We hope to continue to negotiate with Tufts in good faith and come to an amicable solution.”

She said the foundation is not working with another hospital on guideline development.