The Roundhouse in Santa Fe (Photo by cjc4454/flickr.com)
The state switched behavioral health services providers in 2009, and the transition was rocky on both ends. A bipartisan group of lawmakers sent a letter to State Auditor Hector Balderas in July requesting a special audit of the contract with the outgoing provider, ValueOptions.
They lodged a host of complaints including that providers were not being reimbursed in a timely manner or at all for services they provided, that clients were being inappropriately denied service and that the company retaliated against providers who complained.
But complaints appeared to be just as prevalent, if not more so, on the other end. The company that took over the contract, OptumHealth, was fined $1.4 million in October by the state and could lose the lucrative state contract because, the state charged, OptumHealth had not paid millions of dollars it owed to service providers.
Both companies gave big to the campaigns of Gov. Bill Richardson. (Surprise!)
This may have been the most underreported story of 2009. It had a dramatic and widespread effect on organizations that provide necessary services to New Mexicans — and to the New Mexicans those organizations serve.
This didn’t quite make it onto my list of the top 10 stories of the year, but it’s definitely worth an honorable mention.