Hundreds of children and adults with developmental delays or disabilities will be left without transportation to their treatment programs on Jan. 1 under a new state policy, according to a lawsuit by treatment providers and families of several Medicaid recipients.
The lawsuit, filed late Friday in U.S. District Court in Little Rock, asks for an "emergency" order forcing the state Medicaid program to continue paying for recipients' transportation to the programs.
The lawsuit was filed by two provider associations and seven parents or guardians of participants in the Early Intervention Day Treatment and Adult Developmental Day Treatment programs. The programs were created July 1 to replace the Child Health Management Services program and the Developmental Day Treatment Clinic Services program, which had served adults and children.
Current rules allow Medicaid recipients to use services that provide nonemergency medical transporation to get to treatment centers if the facilities do not offer transportation, the lawsuit says.
After Jan. 1, recipients won't be able to use nonemergency medical transporation, according to the lawsuit. The Department of Human Services notified the centers on June 25 about the rule change, the plaintiffs wrote.
The amount the state plans to reimburse for transportation is not enough to cover the cost of the service, the lawsuit says. Centers that provide transportation will be reimbursed $1.80 per mile.
After providers complained about the rate, the plaintiffs say, the department said its actuary believes it should be increased to $2.09 per mile.
But even that amount would "approximate only one-fifth of what it would actually take to reimburse EIDT and ADDT providers for their actual cost of providing transportation to their patients," according to the suit.
"One nonprofit provider estimates that it will have to come up with $630,000 to purchase vans and other equipment to start transporting adults currently riding NET transportation to their center, and that it will suffer an annual operating loss of approximately $500,000 as a result of the changes announced by ADHS," the plaintiffs' attorneys wrote.
"Other providers estimate similar losses proportional to their respective number of patients."
Some providers also don't have the space for parking lots or garages for buses and vans, the attorneys wrote.
The change will affect "hundreds of children and adults at some 37 different locations operated by 14 different providers," the attorneys wrote.
The lawsuit contends the new policy violates the department's own rules, which says that the centers "may choose" to provide transportation services.
Federal Medicaid law and regulations also require state Medicaid programs to provide transportation to recipients for medically necessary services, the attorneys wrote.
The policy also violates the recipients' rights under the U.S. and Arkansas constitutions and the federal Americans with Disabilities Act, the attorneys wrote.
The lawsuit seeks class-action status on behalf of participants in the programs whose providers do not provide transportation.
The Human Services Department had just been served with the lawsuit on Monday, spokesman Amy Webb said in an email.
"We need to review and talk with legal counsel so we will not be providing any comment at this time," she said.
Metro on 12/11/2018