A pair of lawsuits challenging a state Medicaid managed-care initiative should be assigned to the same judge, an attorney for the state said in a court filing.
The filing by Assistant Attorney General William Bird asks that a lawsuit in Pulaski County Circuit Court by attorney Luther Sutter of Benton be moved from Judge Wendell Griffen's division to Judge Chris Piazza's.
Sutter's lawsuit, filed last month on behalf of a Little Rock firm that serves developmentally disabled Medicaid recipients, contends that the managed-care system is "unprepared and dysfunctional to adequately provide services to Medicaid beneficiaries in the state."
Piazza presided over an earlier, separate lawsuit by the owners of several residential-care facilities who sought to delay the March 1 start of the managed care initiative.
On Feb. 27, Piazza rejected the facility owners' request for an order delaying the start date. He said he would keep the case open for six months so the owners could renew their request for action if the initiative caused them "irreparable harm."
Attorney Ashley Hudson, who represents the facility owners in that case, said the owners have been "working through a lot of issues" with the managed-care companies and monitoring their response to providers' complaints about difficulties with billing and reimbursement.
The state House and Senate committees on state agencies and government affairs held two hearings on the issue last month and will hear more testimony at a meeting Monday.
Hudson said the facility owners haven't yet decided whether they will ask Piazza for an order addressing the issue.
"Our client's goal is to get this sorted out and not necessarily to be in court," she said.
Department of Human Services spokeswoman Amy Webb said in an email Wednesday that the managed-care companies, known as Provider-led Arkansas Shared Savings Entities, or PASSEs, have been paying providers.
A judge's order isn't needed, she said.
"With any billing systems, there will be issues that need to be addressed," she said. "We are working with providers and PASSEs to ensure any issues are being handled."
In the court filing on Tuesday, Bird said the two lawsuits involve some of the same issues and that having them heard by two different judges poses the risk of conflicting rulings.
Piazza is familiar with the managed-care system after presiding over a hearing in the earlier lawsuit and can decide whether the two cases should be consolidated, Bird said.
Sutter didn't return a call Wednesday seeking comment on the state's request.
Under the managed-care initiative, three companies on March 1 took over responsibility for providing health benefits to almost 45,000 Medicaid recipients with significant mental illness or developmental disabilities.
In exchange, the Medicaid program pays the companies fixed amounts per month, ranging from $998.82 to $12,671.62, for each recipient.
The initiative is designed to save the state money while generating insurance premium tax revenue that can be used to reduce the number of children and adults with developmental disabilities who are on a waiting list for home- and community-based services.
As of February, about 4,600 Arkansans were receiving the services and more than 3,100 others were on the waiting list.
Sutter's lawsuit on behalf of Home to Community Living asked Griffen to order the state to freeze further payments to the managed-care companies until providers are paid what they're owed.
Metro on 05/09/2019