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Whitman-Walker Health and several
other Washington, D.C. healthcare organizations continue to provide services to
Medicaid HIV/AIDS clients, even though Chartered Health Plan, the city’s
Medicaid contractor, announced in April that they had stopped paying Medicaid
claims to doctors, hospitals, and other healthcare providers in Washington,
D.C. The Medicaid contractor experienced a financial collapse and entered into
voluntary receivership. The D.C. Department of Health Care Finance released a
statement noting that under its contract with the city, Chartered Health Plan
administered Medicaid-related issues for more than 100,000 low-income D.C.
residents.
On May 25, the Washington Post
reported that Chartered Health Plan recently confronted near financial collapse
because Charter owner Jeffrey E. Thompson allegedly financed a “shadow
campaign” to support Vincent Gray’s 2010 mayoral election. Washington, D.C.’s
Office of Campaign Finance has said these campaign issues violated the city’s
campaign finance law. The US Attorney’s office is investigating the matter.
Gray has stated that he was unaware of the so-called shadow campaign and has
cooperated with investigators studying the matter.
Whitman-Walker Spokesperson Chip
Lewis declared that Chartered owed Whitman-Walker slightly more than $40,000 in
back Medicaid payments for patient services; however, the clinic is still
managing to absorb the delay in payments. The executive directors of Us Helping
Us and MetroHealth (previously known as the Carol Vogel Center) and the AIDS
Healthcare Foundation’s director have said that the Medicaid delays have not
adversely impacted them yet.
Gray said in a statement in April,
“In light of the financial problems of Chartered, I will be taking steps to
protect the District’s healthcare provider network that has taken years for us
to develop. My primary goal is to protect the stability of the community-based
providers that will be at risk of closing their doors and turning away patients
if there is a significant delay in being paid.” Gray has directed BB Otero, his
deputy mayor for health and human services, and the Department of Health Care
Finance to develop a plan offering relief for providers most affected by the
Medicaid payment cutoff. The Post reported that since the mayor’s announcement
last month, the city has retained a new company, AmeriHealth Caritas of
Philadelphia, to replace Chartered Health as the city’s lead contractor for
Medicaid services.
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is
dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and
empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV
virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
TOGETHER WE REMAIN STRONG!
