Lanier Cansler, Months Ago Secretary of NC DHHS, Lobbied for Company that Scoops Efficient HP Medicaid Billing and NC Citizens Pay $495 Million+ for Cansler's Influence and Pull
Just when I think I have pulled every hair out regarding this Medicaid Waiver mess, here comes something else even more shocking: Lanier Cansler, Mr. Revolving Door (He has done this twice now, going in and out of DHHS, to work as Secretary of the entire thing, and then out again, as a lobbyist so he can make the BIG BUCKS BABY).
Medicaid Webclaims was COMPLETELY EFFICIENT re: Medicaid Billing. Everything ran like clock-work. I logged on, put in my ID, pulled up my client's names, put in the necessary data, all of which took about 1 minute to do / client for a number of Medicaid sessions.
Now, we've got Mr. Revolving Door Cansler who yanked this contract from HP PRIOR to being assigned the position by Perdue (I can still hear her now assuring the public that 'he's a public servant now' as people made inquiries about his lobbying jobs) and we have now idiotically spent millions of dollars to create this (oh yeah) state of the art computer system for billing Medicaid.
This is every bit as idiotic as re-credentialing Medicaid providers by the LME's.
WHO WILL STOP THIS MADNESS? Why the hell do we need another company spending all our money to write computer code that was in place and running very well by another company?
Here is the article:
***************************************************************
"......The contract sparked a fierce fight. HP, which runs the 1980s system, was a bidder on the new contract and protested on technical and political grounds: CSC had retained former DHHS Deputy Secretary Lanier Cansler as a lobbyist. Weeks after the contract award, Cansler was named DHHS secretary by Gov. Bev Perdue.
Stewart denied the protest.
In its bid documents, CSC estimated that 90 percent of the millions of lines of computer code needed could be copied from its New York Medicaid program. CSC later revised that to 73 percent; in the end, because of big differences between the New York and North Carolina Medicaid programs, only 32 percent of the New York code was used....
The program soon fell behind, and in the summer of 2010 CSC asked for an extension. Following a lengthy negotiation, the state granted an 18- to 22-month extension and raised the contract price to $495 million.
CSC celebrated the amended contract with an invitation to a July 28, 2011, picnic at Umstead Park: “Please plan to join us for BBQ and Indian Cuisine! It will be a great time to get to know your co-workers as well (as key CSC and DHHS) executives. You might even have the chance to challenge them to a game of bean bag toss or horseshoes!”
Delia, who became DHHS secretary in February, says CSC added six months of delay by overestimating how much code it could bring from New York. The company agreed to pay the state $10 million in damages, an amount criticized as unsubstantiated and low in a subsequent state audit.
The rest of the delay, Delia said, stems from changes in federal and state laws and regulations, and was out of the control of DHHS...."
Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2012/06/18/3323324/state-contract-for-updating-computer.html#storylink=misearch#storylink=cpy"
Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2012/06/18/3323324/state-contract-for-updating-computer.html#storylink=misearch#storylink=cpy
Medicaid Webclaims was COMPLETELY EFFICIENT re: Medicaid Billing. Everything ran like clock-work. I logged on, put in my ID, pulled up my client's names, put in the necessary data, all of which took about 1 minute to do / client for a number of Medicaid sessions.
Now, we've got Mr. Revolving Door Cansler who yanked this contract from HP PRIOR to being assigned the position by Perdue (I can still hear her now assuring the public that 'he's a public servant now' as people made inquiries about his lobbying jobs) and we have now idiotically spent millions of dollars to create this (oh yeah) state of the art computer system for billing Medicaid.
This is every bit as idiotic as re-credentialing Medicaid providers by the LME's.
WHO WILL STOP THIS MADNESS? Why the hell do we need another company spending all our money to write computer code that was in place and running very well by another company?
Here is the article:
***************************************************************
"......The contract sparked a fierce fight. HP, which runs the 1980s system, was a bidder on the new contract and protested on technical and political grounds: CSC had retained former DHHS Deputy Secretary Lanier Cansler as a lobbyist. Weeks after the contract award, Cansler was named DHHS secretary by Gov. Bev Perdue.
Stewart denied the protest.
In its bid documents, CSC estimated that 90 percent of the millions of lines of computer code needed could be copied from its New York Medicaid program. CSC later revised that to 73 percent; in the end, because of big differences between the New York and North Carolina Medicaid programs, only 32 percent of the New York code was used....
The program soon fell behind, and in the summer of 2010 CSC asked for an extension. Following a lengthy negotiation, the state granted an 18- to 22-month extension and raised the contract price to $495 million.
CSC celebrated the amended contract with an invitation to a July 28, 2011, picnic at Umstead Park: “Please plan to join us for BBQ and Indian Cuisine! It will be a great time to get to know your co-workers as well (as key CSC and DHHS) executives. You might even have the chance to challenge them to a game of bean bag toss or horseshoes!”
Delia, who became DHHS secretary in February, says CSC added six months of delay by overestimating how much code it could bring from New York. The company agreed to pay the state $10 million in damages, an amount criticized as unsubstantiated and low in a subsequent state audit.
The rest of the delay, Delia said, stems from changes in federal and state laws and regulations, and was out of the control of DHHS...."
Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2012/06/18/3323324/state-contract-for-updating-computer.html#storylink=misearch#storylink=cpy"
Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2012/06/18/3323324/state-contract-for-updating-computer.html#storylink=misearch#storylink=cpy
posted by Marsha V. Hammond, PhD at 2:41 PM
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