North Carolina Health and Human Services gets another grilling from lawmakers
RALEIGH (WTVD) -- While most state lawmakers have gone home for the summer, the Health Oversight Committee was back in Raleigh Tuesday, grilling leaders at the NC Department of Health and Human Services.
Topics ran the gamut from the Medicaid budget (which Secretary Aldona Wos says is in its best shape since the recession began) to ebola (which has kept state health officials busy for the past few weeks) to NC FAST (think food stamps) to staffing problems at the agency.
Lawmakers also honed in on outside Medicaid contracts. The News & Observer reports that Sec. Wos has turned over the financial management of North Carolina's $13 billion Medicaid program to the Washington-area consulting firm Alvarez & Marsal.
The company has a $6.8 million no-bid contract to run the day-to-day financial operations of Medicaid, developing budgets, managing cash and contracts, and preparing reports for the legislature and governor.
In addition, the department has tapped the consulting firm to reorganize the entire Medicaid division.
"Seven million is a lot of money to spend on a consultant group to come in and manage the agency. We need real people in here that know what they're doing day in and day out," offered Sen. Floyd McKissick, (D) Durham.
"Their expertise allows us - they work side by side - their knowledge helps us to get it right," said Wos.
According to the N&O, Alvarez & Marsal reports to the DHHS chief financial officer, Rod Davis. The firm now has 17 people working on the contract: three principals billing $473 an hour, five directors at $394 an hour, and nine analysts charging $242 an hour.
Medicaid has been a hotly debated issue at the General Assembly, with the Senate favoring handing the program to managed care companies, while the House and Gov. Pat McCrory back a plan based on accountable care organizations led by doctors and hospitals. Legislators in both chambers have been frustrated by cost overruns in the hundreds of millions of dollars in each of the past several years.
One of the consultant's tasks is recruiting employees to newly defined positions. The Division of Medical Assistance, as the Medicaid agency is known, has been plagued by high vacancy rates: About a quarter of the division's 332 jobs are vacant, with the average unfilled job open for nearly a year. The director's position went unfilled for seven months after Carol Steckel resigned in September.
The job is currently held by Dr. Robin Cummings, who also is an assistant secretary in the department.
Payne said lower salaries and benefits make many positions difficult to fill.
Later this afternoon, we expect an update on Dorothea Dix, the former mental health hospital in Raleigh that has been at the center of a year-long tug-of-war between the city and the State.
