By MICHELLE N. KHAZAI
A 2017 Medscape survey indicated that over half of responding doctors had been sued for malpractice. The number one reason? Failure to diagnose a medical condition, given by 31 percent of respondents. Nearly half of doctors surveyed who were sued for malpractice spent between 11 and 50 hours in court, meetings with lawyers, or in other legal proceedings. And almost half of those surveyed stated that there was no triggering event and that they were taken by surprise by the malpractice claim.

Studies published in the Journal of the American Medicine Association, Lancet, and the Archives of Internal Medicine delved into the mindset of patients who filed malpractice claims using various methods, including questionnaires, deposition transcripts, and phone surveys. Four primary reasons emerged: 1) prevention of similar incidents in the future; 2) a desire for an explanation about a harmful incident; 3) financial renumeration for pain, loss, and/or suffering or to offset future care expenses; and 4) the need to hold a doctor accountable.

At the root cause of many of these malpractice claims is a breakdown in the relationship between the physician and the patient—typically due to problems with communication. Patients complained that [Read More]

By PAUL NATINSKY
As efforts to dismantle the Affordable Care Act continue, Michigan’s Health Plans have stepped up their search for solutions to mounting complications.

The Trump White House has administratively chipped away at Obamacare’s policies, including cancelling in cost-sharing reduction (CSR) subsidies and non-enforcement of penalties consumers pay for not adhering to the ACA’s requirement that individuals buy comprehensive health insurance.

The two measures present a double whammy to health plans. The CSR payments were funds paid to insurers to offset the cost of care for individuals earning too little money to cover out-of-pocket healthcare expenses such as copays. The money totaled about $7 billion in payments to health plans nationally. It is separate from the premium assistance offered to individuals buying marketplace plans.

Not enforcing the individual mandate has several effects. First, it is likely to reduce enrollment as young, healthy people now face no financial penalty if they forego health insurance, a trend that was in place before the ACA. Fewer young and healthy people paying premiums means insurers pay a higher percentage of premium dollars to provide healthcare services and are forced to raise premiums for everyone, another trend predating the ACA.

“I will tell you in talking to my plans that are involved I the [Read More]

After almost two years of results showing Flint’s water testing below federal standards for lead, Gov. Rick Snyder announced April 6 the state will close the four remaining point of distribution (POD) centers for bottled water when the current supply runs out. Deliveries of bottled water to homebound residents will end at the same time, but residents will still be able to get free water filters and replacement cartridges at city hall.

“We have worked diligently to restore the water quality and the scientific data now proves the water system is stable and the need for bottled water has ended,” Snyder said. “For the past two years, I have repeatedly been asked when I would declare the water safe in Flint and I have always said that no arbitrary decision would be made — that we would let the science take us to that conclusion.”

Flint Mayor Karen Weaver said the available supply of bottled water is expected to be exhausted over the weekend.

“We did not cause the man-made water disaster, therefore adequate resources should continue being provided until the problem is fixed and all the lead and galvanized pipes have been replaced. I will be contacting the governor’s office immediately to express the insensitivity of the [Read More]

By EWA MATUSZEWSKI
I know I’ve lamented the proliferation of acronyms in healthcare before, but I need to discuss yet another. You’ve likely heard of Value-Added Resellers (VARs); well, I’m here to challenge the “value” component of the name as it applies to Electronic Health Records (EHR). First, here’s a quick VAR definition from Wikipedia to get you up to speed, if necessary.

We learned the hard way when a member practice’s EHR went down recently that it is wrong to assume the VAR has a back-up plan. A physician’s office is dependent on its EHR for not only patient records, but also critical practice management tools like scheduling appointments, billing, phone calls and e-prescribing. It’s like the power grid of the practice. At least when we lose power at home, we can call or text a number to find out how long the outage is expected to last, with status updates provided throughout the process.

When this member physician’s EHR was disabled, the VAR (it reminds me of the mortgage business, where mortgages are sold to third parties) offered no communication – nor proof of a disaster plan. When I repeatedly asked for one, I finally got a PDF of a copy of a generic disaster recovery [Read More]

By ERIN DIESEL ROUMAYAH, ESQ.
On Nov. 3, 2017 the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Office of Medicare Hearings and Appeals (OMHA) (the division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that administers the Medicare appeals process) announced two new settlement opportunity for Medicare Part A and Part B providers and suppliers with eligible fee-for-service appeals pending in the administrative appeals process. These new programs are the Low Volume Appeals Settlement (LVA) and the expanded Settlement Conference Facilitation program (SCF). CMS offered LVA as a lump-sum settlement offer for eligible Appellants with certain eligible appeals. SCF affords eligible Appellants an opportunity to negotiate a lump-sum settlement offer on certain eligible appeals. SCF and LVA have complimentary eligibility criteria that collectively have the opportunity to resolve nearly every Medicare Part A or Part B claim under $100,000.00 in billed charges that is pending at the Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) or Medicare Appeals Council (Council) levels of the Medicare appeals process as of Nov. 3, 2017.

CMS and OMHA announced these new settlement opportunities consistent with their efforts in recent months and years to combat the backlog of appeals pending at the ALJ and Council levels of review in Medicare’s administrative appeals process. [Read More]

By ERICA MORRIS & MARK WILSON
How can providers increase quality of care while reducing cost to patients? The answer is through innovation, creativity, increased patient responsibility, partnership, and real-time flow of information. Here are just a few ideas to consider in reaching this overarching goal. While none of the ideas articulated below are novel or groundbreaking on their own, they are strategies that we have observed to be successful and that have benefited both patients and practices.

Encourage Your Patients to Be Involved in Their Healthcare Decisions—Both Procedurally and Financially

One of the keys to bringing costs down and letting the competitive consumer market assist in the process is having an informed clientele. Often, patients do not see the costs of the services provided until after the numbers have gone through their insurance. In the past, consumerism had little impact on the healthcare cost structure due to fear overriding frugality—no one wants to save a few hundred dollars on a particular test and then “die” as a result of that decision. Find ways to encourage your patients to compare the true costs of their medical care by establishing the quality baseline. For example, two identical CT Scanners sitting next to each other can have very [Read More]

By SUSAN ADELMAN, MD
As the endless dispute about reforming healthcare drags on in Washington, the participants might want to note two articles that appeared in the daily AMA Morning Rounds on February 9, 2018:

The first references several state-requested innovations to Medicaid:
Quoting the Congressional Quarterly, “in addition to work requirements,… several states “want to impose time limits on how long people can stay on the program.” A couple of states “want to roll back their Medicaid expansions to cover fewer people,” and still others would like “to require drug testing or limit the list of prescription drugs they’ll pay for…”

The press already has reported on some of these proposed work requirements. As an example, The Washington Post reported on January 11 that 10 states are requesting federal permission to impose work requirements on able-bodied adults who are enrolled in Medicaid.

The second AMA article highlights the significant observation that enrollment in state-run ACA programs is up, and enrollment in Healthcare.gov programs is down:
“…A majority of the states which manage their own ACA exchanges “saw more people sign up in 2018 than last year, while 29 of the 34 states that rely on the federal government to promote enrollment saw their sign-ups fall,” according to data unveiled by [Read More]

By ALLAN DOBZYNIAK, MD
Could it be that medical care is now taken for granted? Are the fantastic technologies, miracle drugs, futuristic hospitals, and finally even doctors now simply viewed as facts of nature, things that were always there and will always be there? Is there the expectation that doctors will forever improve the quality of life and add years to it?

Could it be possible that government intervention into healthcare was the origin of the concept that patients need do nothing to earn their medical care and even presume perfection and cures? All they needed to do was wish it, demand it, and the government would decree that it happen. Could this thinking now be leading to the rise of a generation of patients who expect medical treatment and cures as a right simply because they wish it?

Was it not in the recent past considered above all important for physicians to have the ability to think and judge, to consider the countless variables and options relevant to the individual uniqueness of each patient, process the sum total of the information and render his or her decision? Of course physicians appreciate there are general approaches to the work-up and treatment of a variety of illnesses captured in [Read More]

State Permanently Yanks Nassar’s Medical License, Docks Him $1M

The state April 6 permanently revoked the medical license of Larry Nassar and fined him $1 million, making it the largest fine ever issued by a health professional or occupational board in the history of the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA), according to the department.

Nassar, the former physician for Michigan State University and team doctor for U.S.A. Gymnastics, has been sentenced to federal prison on child pornography possession charges. He was sentenced to state prison on numerous counts of criminal sexual conduct, stemming from his sexual abuse of hundreds of women, often under the guise of medical treatment.

The state’s Board of Osteopathic Medicine and Surgery initially revoked Nassar’s license on April 25, 2017, based on LARA’s order summarily suspending Nassar’s license and an administrative complaint filed in January 2017.

The permanent revocation stems from Nassar’s convictions, outlined in January 2018 administrative complaint filed by the Attorney General’s office on behalf of LARA.

The $1 million fine is to be paid to the state after all restitution, criminal fees and fines, and civil judgments Nassar is ordered to pay have been fully satisfied.

Supreme Court Asked To Review Healthy Kids Dental Contract

MCNA is taking its fight challenging Michigan’s [Read More]

By SHEFALI LUTHRA
When President Donald Trump signed the last-minute budget deal into law earlier this month, the news coverage emphasized how the bill boosted military funding, provided tens of billions in disaster aid and raised the debt ceiling.

But buried deep in the 652-page legislation was a repeal of a limit on Medicare coverage of physical and occupational therapy. It received little public attention, but to the American Physical Therapy Association, this headline was decades in the making.

The group had spent 20 years lobbying to reverse a component of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, which would have limited patients to $2,010 worth of occupational therapy a year, and another $2,010 of physical therapy and speech-language pathology. Each time the limit was about to kick in, APTA managed to postpone its implementation — sometimes for just months, sometimes for another year or so.

Justin Moore, APTA’s CEO, quit his job as a physical therapist in Missouri and moved to Washington, D.C., in 1999 specifically to lobby Congress full time about staving off these so-called therapy caps. He recalls recruiting thousands of physical therapists to protest on Capitol Hill, long hours lobbying in congressional offices and eleventh-hour victories to keep the cap from taking effect.

Just hours after Trump [Read More]

In an email letter to members of the Michigan State University Board of Trustees, the university’s new interim president, John Engler, reports he wants to fire Dr. William Strampel, Dean of the Osteopathic Medical School since 2002, for his role in the Larry Nassar case.

The President’s recommendation, after five days on the job, requires an affirmative vote of a faculty hearing committee to reverse his tenure.

Strampel has been on medical leave since last December.

According to an MSU news release, he was accused of not following-up on the medical procedures he asked Nassar to follow after a joint FBI and campus police department investigation into sexual abuse allegations concerning Nassar.

The release quoted Strampel as saying he did not “see the need to follow up to ensure” Nassar complied with the recommendations to use a rubber glove and have another adult in the room during his medical exams.

“William Strampel did not act with the level of professionalism we expect from individuals who hold senior leadership positions, particularly a position that involves student and patient safety,” wrote Engler. “Further allegations have arisen that question whether his personal conduct over a long period of time met MSU’s standards. We are sending an unmistakable message today that we will remove [Read More]

A former University of Michigan-affiliated pediatric rheumatologist who was investigated for having sex with a patient is facing federal child pornography charges, according to a federal complaint unsealed Feb. 12.

Mark Franklin Hoeltzel, 46, stood mute—meaning a not guilty plea was entered for him—in front of U.S. District Magistrate Judge Elizabeth A. Stafford. He is charged with receipt of and possession of child pornography. He faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted as charged.

U.S. Assistant Attorney General Mollie O’Rourke asked that Hoeltzel be immediately detained, which Stafford granted.

Defense attorney Raymond Cassar said he demanded the hearing to argue for his client’s release because he believes Hoeltzel, who had returned from treatment out of state when he was arrested, is not a risk of flight nor is he a risk to the community.

“He was coming back into the state when they arrested him and the government knew that; we had made arrangements for him to come back,” Cassar said. “The biggest reason I want to get him out on bond is to get him back into treatment here in Michigan.

“That’s important for him. The treatment he’s undergoing is important for him. It’s important for his growth and to address the charges,” added Cassar, declining to [Read More]

By SARAH HILLEGONDS
Recently, we have received reports that the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) is conducting aggressive audits of pharmacies that concentrate on invoice and inventory records. In most cases, the targets of these invoice and inventory audits are independent pharmacies. According to the OIG, the purpose of inventory audits is to ensure that a pharmacy is not billing Medicaid for more drugs than it purchased. But the methodology utilized by the OIG is susceptible to error, resulting in inaccurate overpayment demands, and there are questions as to the legality of these types of audits prior to July 1, 2015. This article will explore the legal framework governing inventory audits and one of the many legal defenses being raised by pharmacies subject to recoupment as a result of this type of audit.

Pharmacies, like any other healthcare provider, are required to comply with various federal and state laws, as well as state policies as a condition of participation in the Medicaid program. The OIG relies on authorities contained within the Medicaid Provider Manual, as well as its general powers under the Social Welfare Act, 400.1 et. seq., and Executive Reorganization Order 2010-1, MCL 333.26368, to perform inventory audits.

While [Read More]

By EWA MATUSZEWSKI
The upstreamists are coming! The upstreamists are coming! If you know what I’m talking about, I’ll consider you a loyal follower of this column—or someone who is already attuned to the social determinants of health (#SDOH). In my October 2017 column, I discussed a call to action on #SDOH and cited the upstreamist term used by Rishi Manchanda, MD, a physician and public health innovator who has worked in South Central Los Angeles and advocates for incorporating #SDOH into primary care.

I couldn’t be more excited to announce that Dr. Manchanda will be coming to Michigan (for the first time!) when MedNetOne joins with the Oakland University School of Health Sciences on Wednesday, April 18 to present a day-long symposium at OU on #SDOH, Better Upstream Health for Better Downstream Care. Dr. Manchanda will be joined by healthcare innovator Paul Grundy MD, MPH, who just stepped down after a stellar career as IBM’s Global Director of Healthcare Transformation and is considered the “godfather” of the Patient Centered Medical Home.

A quick review: social determinants of health may include:
• Economic resources, including access to jobs that provide a living wage
• Safe workplaces and safe neighborhoods
• Quality of schools and availability for advanced education and training
• Clean [Read More]

By SUSAN ADELMAN, MD
In the age of Larry Nassar, in the era of #metoo, what is a girl to think? What is a doctor to think? What are the rules these days? From the standpoint of doctor-patient relations, the fallout from the Larry Nassar case could be toxic for medical care.

First, how are doctors trained? When young people graduate from medical school and enter practice, traditionally they take the Hippocratic Oath, either as originally written, or as updated. The Oath has two salient sentences. The first is: “I will use treatment to help the sick according to my ability and judgment, but never with a view to injury and wrong-doing.”

The other pertinent sentence is “Into whatsoever houses I enter, I will enter to help the sick, and I will abstain from all intentional wrong-doing and harm, especially from abusing the bodies of man or woman, bond or free.” Both of these promises are intended to prevent the doctor from engaging in self-serving behavior that is not in the best interests of the patient.

One more principle is taught to all medical students: “First do no harm,” often quoted in the original Latin: Primum non nocere.

It is assumed that the young doctor understands these admonitions. If not, [Read More]

By MARKI STEWART
The use of telemedicine has soared in recent years, as new technologies develop and consumer demand for instant access to healthcare increases. Indeed, the telemedicine market is expected to grow to $113.1 billion by 2025, at an estimated compound annual growth rate of 18.8%. It is expected that at least 7 million patients in the United States will access telemedicine services in 2018, a sharp increase from 2013, when the estimated number of telehealth patients was fewer than 350,000. Despite this momentous growth, reimbursement continues to be a key obstacle for telemedicine providers. However, reimbursement rules by various payors are slowly expanding to cover more telemedicine services.

Medicare remains one of the most restrictive payors for telemedicine services, with exceptionally limiting reimbursement rules. With some exceptions, Medicare will pay for a telemedicine encounter only when the patient is located in a rural area and present at an eligible originating site, the service must be delivered by one of eight eligible professionals and the modality must be real-time, interactive, and face-to-face (thus prohibiting “store and forward” telemedicine technologies), with a limited number of available codes. Notably, Medicare recently changed its coding for telemedicine services, eliminating use of the “GT” modifier traditionally used to indicate [Read More]

By ALLAN DOBZYNIAK, MD
The collective “wisdom” promoted by the MBAs, nouveau healthcare experts, politicians and bureaucrats can be condensed into a singular thought: Doctors were part of an anachronistic model which was condescendingly labeled a “cottage Industry.” According to this expanding array of mutually anointed experts, this was a stupid residual from a previous era. The truly operative word here is industry. Then, as an industry, it needed to be aggressively nudged into modernity as these wizards envisioned it. Included in this group-think vision was the caveat that turning the physicians’ practice of medicine, a profession, into an industrial model laden with regulations, mandates, rules, care models and protocols was mandatory. But could it have been the dollar signs in the eyes of the industrialists when gazing at 16 percent of the U.S. economy attributed to healthcare that was originally and continues at present to be the salient motivator? Add to this the enormous transfer of power to the federal government.

Those fortunate enough to get in on this potential bonanza certainly have prospered. The exponential increase in government healthcare bureaucrats with their lavish salaries and benefits, the hospital management aristocracy, the health insurance companies, the IT companies selling their ludicrous fantasies, the pharmaceutical enterprise with [Read More]

(FLINT)—an 80 percent majority of the 87 Legionnaires’ diseases cases that came out of the city of Flint from 2014 to 2017 can be connected to the city’s water supply, according to a hotly disputed study released in early February.

A research team made up of experts from the University of Michigan, Wayne State University and Colorado State University also found the less chlorine used to treat Flint River water, the more likely those who drank the water contracted Legionnaires’ disease.

Temperature of the water was not tested, a key point because the warmer the water, the easier it is for Legionella to grow. However, the researches from the “Flint Area Community Health and Environment Partnership (FACHEP) research team” did suggest using polyvinyl chloride pipes, which don’t release iron when exposed to corrosive water.

The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) quickly disputed the report’s findings, writing that it reviewed the final draft articles, as did an independent third party, KWR Watercycle Research Institute and found numerous flaws that were brought to the research team’s attention, but to no avail.

“By publishing these inaccurate, incomplete studies at this point, FAHCEP has done nothing to help the citizens of Flint and has only added to public confusion on this [Read More]

Three huge and influential employers, Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JP Morgan Chase, announced Jan. 30 they were partnering to create an independent company aimed at reining in health-care costs for their U.S. employees.

There were almost no details available about what the company would do or how it would use technology to disrupt and simplify the complicated fabric of American health care. But there’s no doubt that the companies, which collectively employ more than 1 million workers worldwide, have a real interest in ratcheting down their spending on health care. Health-care premiums are split between employers and employees and have been growing much faster than wages.

Major health company stock prices tumbled on the news, and the announcement stirred excitement — and questions — about how the three companies could bring their clout to containing costs in the massive employer-sponsored health insurance market, which provides coverage to approximately 160 million Americans.

According to a survey of employer health benefits, health insurance premiums have been rising faster than wages. Between 2012 and 2017, workers’ earnings grew by 12 percent, while premiums went up by 19 percent. Between 2007 and 2012, premiums increased twice as fast as workers’ earnings.

The announcement comes amid rampant rumors and anticipation that Amazon could disrupt [Read More]

By EWA MATUSZEWSKI
According to the CDC website, many health plans and employer groups offer diabetes prevention programs (DPP) because scientific research shows that they work. The federal government must read its own webpages (eventually) because effective April 1, 2018, Medicare and Medicare Advantage programs will begin reimbursing for DPP services as well. It’s long overdue, but now that it’s on the horizon, we need to take action as a healthcare community and encourage the full use of these programs to raise awareness of the high incidence of Type 2 diabetes and halt its devastating impact on overall health and quality of life. Some quick facts:

Eighty-six million adults in the United States have prediabetes, with nine out of ten people not knowing they have it. The risk for prediabetes and diabetes is higher if the person is:

• Overweight or obese
• Has a family history of the disease
• Aged 45 or older
• Not physically active
• Had diabetes while pregnant
• Is African American, American Indian, Hispanic, Asian American or Pacific Islander

Full disclosure – my organization was the first independent physician organization in Michigan to be fully accredited by the CDC for our DPP. The Medicare reimbursement won’t incentivize us though; we were incentivized years ago when we saw [Read More]

By DUSTIN WACHLER-WACHLER & ASSOCIATES, P.C.
Physicians increasingly seek to provide comprehensive care and increase revenue by offering clinical laboratory services to their existing patients. While many laboratory arrangements are permissible, Michigan healthcare providers must be aware of federal and state authorities governing their ability to derive revenue from orders for clinical laboratory services.

Physician practices may provide testing for their own patients through a physician-office laboratory, or refer laboratory tests to an independent clinical laboratory. The federal Stark law prohibits a physician from referring Medicare or Medicaid patients for clinical laboratory services to an entity with which the physician or an immediate family member has a financial relationship. Michigan licensure laws applicable to physicians and other healthcare professionals incorporate the Stark law, and thus the Stark law’s prohibitions and exceptions apply to referrals of laboratory tests for all patients in Michigan.

Michigan healthcare providers structure physician-office laboratories to comply with the Stark law’s exception for in-office ancillary services. This exception permits a physician group practice to provide clinical laboratory services to the practice’s patients if the arrangement satisfies certain requirements related to the performance and supervision, location, and billing of the laboratory services. However, due to these requirements, physician groups generally cannot own and refer to [Read More]

By ROSE WILLIS-DICKINSON WRIGHT
The phrase “healthcare compliance program” is commonly used to describe those processes and procedures implemented by a healthcare provider to prevent submission of erroneous claims and combat fraudulent conduct. The expectation is that providers using internal controls will more efficiently monitor adherence to legal and regulatory requirements than providers without such controls in place. However, confusion remains over whether a healthcare compliance program is legally required for many healthcare providers, particularly those in clinical practice.

Some healthcare providers may believe a formal compliance program is not necessary until a clear, legal requirement is established involving detailed parameters and penalties. This perspective primarily comes from those who don’t have the time, energy or resources to implement a program unless they understand it as an enforced legal mandate tied to penalties. Understandably, the same perspective surrounded compliance with HIPAA until the 2009 HITECH Act issued a clear enforcement rule with sizeable penalties for noncompliance.

Unlike HIPAA, currently there exists no clear enforcement rule setting forth explicit penalties against all types of providers for failure to implement a formal healthcare compliance program. While Section 6401 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act requires as a condition of participation, all healthcare providers participating in a federal [Read More]

By GERALD NATZKE, JR. DO
President
Genesee County Medical Society

As we enter the holiday season and ponder how 2017 has quickly flown past, many of us wonder if there is anything more we could medically do to assist the Flint residents who drank leaded water. We could easily argue that more should have been done to prevent this disaster by those responsible for monitoring the quality of the city’s water. Fortunately, a lot of good, caring people in this world have stepped up to provide aid. Several foundations, as well as the state and the federal government have granted monies for services to improve education, research, epidemiological needs and water line repair. On the periphery, it would seem everything is being taken care of as much as it can be. The true situation is…not really. There is still more, possibly a lot more. The GCMS Community and Environmental Health Committee have been researching this subject since the end of 2015. As a result, it has thoroughly evaluated several potential treatments and may have some answers. It seems there is very little information in the literature on the effects of low-level chronic lead ingestion and accumulation within a population. The FDA had long approved both oral DMSA and [Read More]

By ALLAN DOBZYNIAK, MD
Blaming physicians for the “opioid crisis” is so far off the mark as to be potentially harmful. Then throw in pharmaceutical companies, and politics has definitely been substituted for truth. On “Face the Nation” former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christi, chair of the president’s opioid commission, blamed overprescribing doctors. He said, “This crisis started not on a street corner somewhere. This crisis started in the doctors’ offices and hospitals of America.” In the following discussion I will not even mention the significant contribution to the crisis related to the obsession with pain management by JCAHO, Medicare, Medicaid and finally by private insurance companies. But remember it was these bodies that forced the definition of pain as the fourth vital sign.

Correlation does not mean causation, but there are some correlations that seem not only interesting, but important relative to opioid abuse. If you have a job, are married, older than age 50, female and black the scourge of opioid abuse is less, much less. Recent studies though have shown cocaine related deaths to be greater in the African-American community. Being unmarried, divorced, unemployed or a young adult correlates with greater risk. One can wonder if the increased geographic risk in West Virginia, New [Read More]

The state is asking a judge to dismiss a lawsuit claiming the Department of Technology, Management and Budget showed “blatant favoritism” in awarding a $657 million contract for the Healthy Kids Dental Program.

The state says MCNA Insurance Company’s suit filed in Ingham County should be dismissed “because disappointed bidders lack standing to challenge a public bid process,” according to court documents.

The state further alleges the court doesn’t have jurisdiction over MCNA’s appeal because DTMB’s award recommendation was not a final decision by a judicial agency.

“The state’s attempt to dismiss the case, on a technicality, sends a clear message: It believes DTMB’s procurement decisions are immune from judicial review and it can act with impunity no matter how flawed the process or how blatant a violation of the law has occurred,” said MCNA attorney Scott Eldridge, of Miller Canfield Paddock and Stone.

“Transparency and fiscal responsibility require judicial review of this flawed decision,” he added. “These tactics contradict Michigan’s stated commitment to fiscal responsibility and competitive bidding.”

MCNA Insurance Company asked an Ingham County judge to reverse the DTMB’s decision to award the Healthy Kids contract to Blue Cross Blue Shield. It filed a related suit in the Court of Claims in January regarding DTMB’s response to its [Read More]