среда, 26 сентября 2012 г.

RIDES TO HEALTH SERVICES CANCELED VENDORS SAY THEY HAVEN'T BEEN PAID, SO CLIENTS SCRAMBLE TO REACH MEDICAL CARE.(LOCAL) - The Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk, VA)

Byline: ELIZABETH SIMPSON THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT

People who rely on Medicaid for rides to medical and day-treatment programs found themselves stranded Thursday when a group of medical transport vendors refused to provide service.

The vendors say that a state contractor, DynTek, owes them thousands of dollars for services provided over the past several months, and that they could no longer afford to work without getting paid.

It was unclear how many people were affected, but Tammy Loney, who runs Friends Medical Transport Service in Portsmouth, said about 50 vendors agreed at a meeting earlier this week to stop service on Thursday. If that many vendors followed through on the plan, she said, it could affect more than 1,000 clients in Hampton Roads.

Loney declined to pick up 65 patients Thursday.

DynTek, the state contractor, conceded that service had been interrupted, but it could not say how many vendors had stopped driving.

``We are trying to fill the gap,'' said Linda Ford, a company spokeswoman.

Ford said DynTek is meeting the terms of its contractfor paying the transport companies. She declined to be more specific.

According to dialysis centers and Community Services Boards in the area, about 10 or 11 vendors called to say they would not provide service Thursday, leaving dozens, even hundreds, of patients and clients without rides. Some transportation vendors were continuing to work but were unable to handle the overflow.

Zachariah Santee did not get picked up to go to his day treatment program at SkillQuest, a center for mentally disabled people run by Virginia Beach Community Services Board.

The 22-year-old's father, Ray Santee, said he had to cut short his work day to take Zachariah to the program. His son, who has cerebral palsy, also missed his evening swimming lessons because he returned home later than usual.

``They called me at 7 this morning to tell me they weren't coming,'' Ray Santee said.

A spokesperson for the Virginia Department of Medical Assistance Services, which administers Medicaid, said the department was working with DynTek to resolve the transportation problems. Medicaid is a federal-state program for low-income and disabled people. DMAS contracts with DynTek to dispatch and pay transportation vendors to supply the services.

Vendors say that since DynTek secured the contract with DMAS last year there have been problems. Payments have gradually been reduced and take longer to arrive.

Loney said the vendors sent a letter two weeks ago to DMAS saying they would stop providing rides if they didn't get paid. ``We don't have money to pay our employees or for gas or insurance,'' Loney said. She said DynTek owes her company $20,000.

Sharon Davis, who operates Community Medical Transport in Hampton, said she, too, stopped service on Thursday. ``I had no choice,'' she said. ``I can't keep pulling money out of my own pocket.''

Medicaid recipients, their families and the people who serve them are getting frustrated with long waits for service - and sometimes no service at all.

Dave Wilber, operations manager at Eggleston Services, which provides education and training to people with disabilities, said 26 people did not show up at the company's Norfolk center on Thursday because of the transportation problem. ``Families were freaking out,'' he said. ``They were having to take off from work.''

He said his company probably lost $1,000 in charges it usually bills Medicaid for those 26 clients.

And for Wilber, the worst part is that he doesn't know when it will end. He said he has sent e-mails to DMAS, to DynTek and to legislators. So far he's heard nothing back.

``There's no way to figure out what's going to happen,'' he said.

A Norfolk dialysis social worker who didn't want to be named said she had no way to alert one of her clients, a man with no telephone, that he would not be getting his usual ride to his three-times-a-week treatment. She planned to pick him up herself on Thursday afternoon.

Some community services boards, including Chesapeake's, provide their own transportation for clients and were not affected by Thursday's problems. But Candace Waller, director of the Chesapeake board, said DynTek owes her agency about $70,000 for services.

Jerry Brickeen, a contract administrator at the Virginia Beach Community Services Board, said DynTek owes it $60,000 for services provided for August and September, and will soon owe another $30,000 for October.

He said that the boards are still serving clients, but that the small medical transport companies can't continue to operate without money.

The Virginia Beach board provides transportation to some clients but contracts with vendors to serve others. Some of those clients did not get rides Thursday, so board employees went to pick them up.

Brickeen said some of the mentally retarded clients were anxious because they had planned to celebrate Halloween at their day-treatment centers.

``Some of them were sitting there in their Halloween costumes waiting for someone to come,'' he said.

Reach Elizabeth Simpson at 446-2635 or liz@pilotonline.com

CAPTION(S):

Color photo

MORT FRYMAN/THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT

Ray Santee, left, helps his son, Zachariah, into their vehicle after the son's day program at Skillquest. Ray Santee said he had to cut short his work day to take Zachariah to the program.

Photos

MORT FRYMAN/THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT

Zachariah Santee, seated, did not get picked up to go to SkillQuest, a center for mentally disabled people. ``They called me at 7 this morning to tell me they weren't coming,'' said his father, Ray Santee, shown helping Zachariah put on his coat to head home.

L. TODD SPENCER/THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT

Tammy Loney said about 50 vendors agreed to stop service Thursday.