A civil petition filed in Polk County District Court alleges Iowa’s newest Medicaid managed-care provider, Molina Healthcare of Iowa, was selected last fall in part because its CEO, Jennifer Vermeer, is Iowa’s former Medicaid director.
Vermeer, the petition claims, “worked closely over time” with those who played a key role in hiring her company to help deliver billions of dollars’ worth of Medicaid-funded health care services to almost 800,000 Iowans.
Molina is expected to begin working in Iowa on July 1.
The petition was filed recently by CareSource Iowa Co., an Ohio-based nonprofit Medicaid managed-care company that failed to win the Iowa contract.
CareSource now seeks judicial review of the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services’ decision to hire Molina over CareSource, alleging the competitive bidding process used by DHHS produced an “unfair, biased result” that resulted in the hiring of “the only bidder that hired as its CEO a longtime colleague/supervisor” of state workers tasked with evaluating the bidders.
The petition notes that Molina earned 98% of the available points handed out during the evaluation process — a score that “even DHHS’s top witnesses admitted was shockingly high” and which CareSource argues “was no coincidence and demonstrates unfair bias” on the part of DHHS.
In court filings, DHHS has admitted to many of the factual claims made by CareSource, but has denied any bias or wrongdoing.
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Vermeer, the petition claims, “worked closely over time” with those who played a key role in hiring her company to help deliver billions of dollars’ worth of Medicaid-funded health care services to almost 800,000 Iowans.
Molina is expected to begin working in Iowa on July 1.
The petition was filed recently by CareSource Iowa Co., an Ohio-based nonprofit Medicaid managed-care company that failed to win the Iowa contract.
CareSource now seeks judicial review of the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services’ decision to hire Molina over CareSource, alleging the competitive bidding process used by DHHS produced an “unfair, biased result” that resulted in the hiring of “the only bidder that hired as its CEO a longtime colleague/supervisor” of state workers tasked with evaluating the bidders.
The petition notes that Molina earned 98% of the available points handed out during the evaluation process — a score that “even DHHS’s top witnesses admitted was shockingly high” and which CareSource argues “was no coincidence and demonstrates unfair bias” on the part of DHHS.
In court filings, DHHS has admitted to many of the factual claims made by CareSource, but has denied any bias or wrongdoing.
Iowa Medicaid contract triggers legal action over alleged conflicts of interest
DES MOINES — A civil petition filed in Polk County District Court alleges Iowa’s newest Medicaid managed-care provider, Molina Healthcare of Iowa, was selected last fall in part because its
