10-28-2005, 10:38 PM
Medicaid specialists will review Autism Center billings, and other questions will be probed, attorney general says.
Minnesota Attorney General Mike Hatch said Thursday he would try to determine if one of the state's largest programs for autistic children has misspent Medicaid money and whether the board of the nonprofit organization is formed properly.
Hatch said he would have Medicaid specialists in his office review billings from the tax-exempt Minnesota Autism Center to the state Department of Human Services. The center relies on public money for most of its budget.
"It's very clear that there's been enough controversy involving the billing matters ... that it does merit review by the state," Hatch said.
Staff psychologists at the center have complained of being pressured to approve treatment services that may not have been medically necessary for the autistic sons of two board members, Ron Carey and Kathryn Marshall.
Carey and Marshall defended the therapy for their children, saying it was proper and necessary and approved by DHS. They deny seeking special treatment or overstepping their authority as board members. Carey is chairman of the Republic Party of Minnesota; Marshall is a retired lawyer.
Hatch, a DFLer running for governor, said he was reacting in part to a story about the dispute published Thursday in the Star Tribune.
He said he also was responding to complaints from some employees of the center and to conversations in the past week with DHS about the matter.
The dispute resulted in a lawsuit earlier this year by board members Tim Wilkin and Larry Colson against Carey, Marshall and two other board members with children in the program. Wilkin, a Republican, is assistant House majority leader. Colson is a Republican activist.
In a settlement of the suit, Wilkin and Colson agreed to resign from the board and to say their claims were not factual. The center agreed to develop a conflict-of-interest policy.
A Hennepin County judge overseeing the case asked earlier this year that Hatch look into the matter, and the attorney general said he had referred complaints about the Autism Center to DHS. "We're unclear whether DHS is reviewing it or not," Hatch said in reference to the earlier inquiry.
DHS said state law bars it from publicly confirming investigations unless they are closed.
However, DHS Commissioner Kevin Goodno said Thursday that the agency's "Surveillance and Integrity Review Section routinely works closely with the Attorney General's Office Medicaid Fraud Unit and supports its efforts to investigate any activity it suspects may be fraudulent."
The Autism Center provides intensive behavior intervention therapy, which involves a team of therapists who work with an autistic child for 40 or more hours a week. It typically lasts about three years and can cost $100,000 a year or more at its most intense periods. The center has 88 clients and a waiting list of more than 100.
Glen Sallows, director of the Wisconsin Early Autism Project in Madison, said that such therapy generally should start before age 3 and that most gains occur in the first year. Results are believed to diminish for school-age children.
Legislators weigh in
"If there is a question in terms of its effectiveness, and you're spending that kind of quantity of money, then what about the other kind of therapies that may not be as expensive but have ... pretty good results as well?" asked Rep. Fran Bradley, R-Rochester, who chairs the House Health Policy and Finance Committee. "You're not going to have as much money left for them."
Bradley said that questions about the therapy's effectiveness and the growing expense of Medicaid to the state will probably reduce support for funding a 2001 law that would dedicate money for such therapy in the future.
Sen. Linda Berglin, DFL-Minneapolis, chairwoman of the Health and Human Services budget division of the Finance Committee, said that the therapy may help some younger children but that she has concerns about the cost and overall effectiveness.
Berglin said that she might ask the Legislative Audit Commission to review the matter.
http://www.startribune.com/stories/462/5694216.html
Minnesota Attorney General Mike Hatch said Thursday he would try to determine if one of the state's largest programs for autistic children has misspent Medicaid money and whether the board of the nonprofit organization is formed properly.
Hatch said he would have Medicaid specialists in his office review billings from the tax-exempt Minnesota Autism Center to the state Department of Human Services. The center relies on public money for most of its budget.
"It's very clear that there's been enough controversy involving the billing matters ... that it does merit review by the state," Hatch said.
Staff psychologists at the center have complained of being pressured to approve treatment services that may not have been medically necessary for the autistic sons of two board members, Ron Carey and Kathryn Marshall.
Carey and Marshall defended the therapy for their children, saying it was proper and necessary and approved by DHS. They deny seeking special treatment or overstepping their authority as board members. Carey is chairman of the Republic Party of Minnesota; Marshall is a retired lawyer.
Hatch, a DFLer running for governor, said he was reacting in part to a story about the dispute published Thursday in the Star Tribune.
He said he also was responding to complaints from some employees of the center and to conversations in the past week with DHS about the matter.
The dispute resulted in a lawsuit earlier this year by board members Tim Wilkin and Larry Colson against Carey, Marshall and two other board members with children in the program. Wilkin, a Republican, is assistant House majority leader. Colson is a Republican activist.
In a settlement of the suit, Wilkin and Colson agreed to resign from the board and to say their claims were not factual. The center agreed to develop a conflict-of-interest policy.
A Hennepin County judge overseeing the case asked earlier this year that Hatch look into the matter, and the attorney general said he had referred complaints about the Autism Center to DHS. "We're unclear whether DHS is reviewing it or not," Hatch said in reference to the earlier inquiry.
DHS said state law bars it from publicly confirming investigations unless they are closed.
However, DHS Commissioner Kevin Goodno said Thursday that the agency's "Surveillance and Integrity Review Section routinely works closely with the Attorney General's Office Medicaid Fraud Unit and supports its efforts to investigate any activity it suspects may be fraudulent."
The Autism Center provides intensive behavior intervention therapy, which involves a team of therapists who work with an autistic child for 40 or more hours a week. It typically lasts about three years and can cost $100,000 a year or more at its most intense periods. The center has 88 clients and a waiting list of more than 100.
Glen Sallows, director of the Wisconsin Early Autism Project in Madison, said that such therapy generally should start before age 3 and that most gains occur in the first year. Results are believed to diminish for school-age children.
Legislators weigh in
"If there is a question in terms of its effectiveness, and you're spending that kind of quantity of money, then what about the other kind of therapies that may not be as expensive but have ... pretty good results as well?" asked Rep. Fran Bradley, R-Rochester, who chairs the House Health Policy and Finance Committee. "You're not going to have as much money left for them."
Bradley said that questions about the therapy's effectiveness and the growing expense of Medicaid to the state will probably reduce support for funding a 2001 law that would dedicate money for such therapy in the future.
Sen. Linda Berglin, DFL-Minneapolis, chairwoman of the Health and Human Services budget division of the Finance Committee, said that the therapy may help some younger children but that she has concerns about the cost and overall effectiveness.
Berglin said that she might ask the Legislative Audit Commission to review the matter.
http://www.startribune.com/stories/462/5694216.html