Category Archives: Andrew Cuomo

NY State Dept. of Health’s manipulation and deceit

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Manipulative and deceitful behavior by New York State Department of Health officials Mark Kissinger and David Hoffman will help you understand why the Center for Public Integrity recently gave New York a D-minus in a recent ranking of states and corruption.

I’ll get to the above referenced behavior in just a second. First, some background.

Governor Cuomo’s DOH seems determined to destroy the lives of thousands by ending the state’s Traumatic Brain Injury Waiver – established by the governor’s father, Mario Cuomo – and the Nursing Home Transition and Diversion Waiver by forcing waiver recipients into managed care.

Waivers provide services that both allow residents to remain in or return to the community as well as grow their independence as much as they can.

Now, Hoffman and Kissinger have been hosting a series of workshops they say are designed to make the transition run smoothly.  With only a few exceptions, the DOH workshop membership largely made of those who, whether they’ll admit it on the record or not,  are all for the DOH’s brutal transition plan.

That waiver recipients and their families and along with honest waiver providers have made it clear the waivers need to be protected has, so far, had little effect. That nearly all the witnesses at a an October 8 public hearing hosted by the Assembly Health Committee, Mental Health & Developmental Disability Committee, and Task Force on People with Disabilities warned the state’s plan would have catastrophic results, has not dissuaded the governor, or the DOH, or the many pawns in the DOH work group in the least.

Manipulation and deceit

I recently attended one of the DOH work group meetings. They are public meetings and members of the public, like me, can attend. When the public was asked to comment, some of us did.  A couple of weeks ago I sent Kissinger an email asking him to please send me a listing of who was on the DOH Workgroup. He forwarded the request to Hoffman, and then, Hoffman emailed me the list.

To my surprise, I and other members of the public were listed as members of the work group! Wrong. I emailed Hoffman and asked him of the mistake, pointing out that you can’t list members of the public as being members of the work group because it’s not true. And, they did it without asking permission.

I figured Hoffman (the DOH) would recognize the mistake and correct it. Wrong again.

When Hoffman responded he wrote. “Everyone in attendance is welcome to participate in comments and questions (as you saw) and so are included in the listing.” In other words, if you are a member of the public, and during the public comment portion of the agenda, say something, we’re going to list you as a member of the work group and we are going to do it without your permission.

Subsequent emails to Hoffman and Kissinger asking them to stop this deceit have resulted in a response the DOH has honed to perfection. Silence.

Now that I think of it, the Center for Public Integrity was generous when it gave New York a D-minus. Hell, I think giving  New York an F would be generous.

 

 

 

 

Feeney Era Ends

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Timothy J. Feeney’s reign over the New York Traumatic Brain Injury Waiver has likely come to an end.

Sources say the New York State Department of Health has chosen not to seek proposals for the contract now held, for all intents and purposes, by Timothy J. Feeney. If correct, Mr. Feeney’s contractual relationship with the DOH, which made him the director of a project that was arguably the most powerful influence over the implementation of New York’s Traumatic Brain Injury Waiver, ended on September 30.

While the Feeney era may be over now, there is concern the DOH will send out requests for proposals and the company awarded the contract will turn around and hire Mr. Feeney. This advocate would urge the DOH to send out a request for proposals because Waiver Providers and those receiving services from these providers deserve a highly trained team of experts to turn to for support and guidance. However, this time I would urge the DOH to set a higher bar in its proposal request and make sure that those involved in the project are truly qualified and represent the spectrum of experience best equipped for the job: neuropsychologists, family members, survivors and so on.

For 15 years Mr. Feeney misrepresented his credentials to brain injury survivors, their families and waiver providers. He claimed he had a masters then a PHD  when, in fact, he had neither. In print publications and on the net he falsely refers to himself as Dr. Feeney or Timothy J. Feeney, PhD.  His “degrees” were issued by Greenwich University, a diploma mill that was located in Hawaii and California in the 1990s before moving its operation to Norfolk Island off the coast of Australia in 1998. Greenwich University, not to be confused with the prestigious University of Greenwich in England, graces numerous diploma mill lists on the net. It closed its doors in 2003.

However, even though his false credentials have been thoroughly exposed and documented, it appears shame and conscience have little impact in Mr. Feeney’s decision making. Last week I gave a speech for St. Lawrence NYSARC in Canton, New York (NYSARC, by the way, is one of the shining stars in healthcare from where I sit). My speech was in the morning. Mr. Feeney gave a speech that afternoon. When I opened the program I saw it;  he was listed as Timothy J. Feeney PhD and, in several places was referenced as Dr. Feeney. Some people never learn.

Last week I received two letters pertaining to this situation. One came from the Office of the Medicaid Inspector General. They have referred the Feeney matter to Dr. Richard Daines, the New York State Health Commissioner, for investigation. The second was from New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo’s office. They too are carefully considering the matter.

And the beat goes on.