Category Archives: mark

BIANYS & NY State DOH: Birds of a feather (my apology to the birds of the world)

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Trying to get New York’s Brain Injury Association and Department of Health to openly deal with some of the challenges faced by brain injury survivors in the state is like trying to nail Jell-O to the wall.

A case in point. Both BIANYS and DOH are tied by contract to the traumatic brain injury waiver complaint line. I can tell you from first hand experience and from hearing the experience of others from all over the state that if you file a complaint you will never learn the results, not ever.

I recently wrote to DOH Deputy Commissioner Mark Kissinger pointing out the injustice, not to mention the possible violation of due process set forth in the Constitution’s 14th amendment. He wrote back saying he would have his staff look into it and get back to me soon. Never heard another word from him, despite follow-up emails on my part.

Then I wrote to the BIANYS board president, Marie Cavallo, and executive director, Judith Avner, asking BIANYS to take a public stance citing the injustice of complainants being ignored. The request was ignored. Scary that these two are the leaders of a non-profit organization that on its website makes the following claim: “Since 1982, we have provided information, resources, programs, advocacy, and support services to brain injury survivors, family members, health care professionals, and educators.” They are absolutely right when they talk about the provision of information and resources and, to some extent, programs, but it is highly disingenuous of them to claim they are an advocacy organization because they are not.

Keep in mind, I’ve asked Avner and Cavallo, in writing, on more than one occasion, to take a public stance regarding the complaint line. They  ignored the request. I’ve asked them in writing to take a public stance regarding the DOH directive blocking TBI Waiver staff from advocating for their clients at Medicaid Fair Hearings. They ignored the request. I asked them in writing to take a stance regarding DOH’s mangling of the rent subsidy which has resulted in quite a few brain-injured individuals getting eviction notices. They ignored the request. I asked them in writing to issue some kind of public statement regarding the heartbreaking case of Francine Taishoff who had her life put in jeopardy by the DOH. They ignored the request.  And I’m a BIANYS member!

I hope the BIANYS board steps in and either straightens out or replaces both of them.

And then we have the DOH.

I sent several emails to Maribeth Gnozzio asking her to address the directive she gave last year blocking waiver staff from advocating for their clients at Medicaid Fair Hearings. Gnozzio ignored the emails. So did the DOH officials copied on them: Kissinger, Mary Ann Anglin and, of course, the DOH’s “tough guy wannabe” Carla Williams.

The pattern in both groups, at least as far as their leadership is concerned, is to do ignore anyone and everyone who holds them accountable and, God forbid, calls on them to do what they say they do in the first place.

NY State Department of Health Wounds Again

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Bad enough for 15 years the DOH either turned a blind eye or was too dysfunctional to  figure out that Tim Feeney, arguably, the most powerful person managing the Traumatic Brain Injury Waiver at the time, had bogus credentials and  was prancing around the state and beyond claiming he had a PhD and Masters Degree when didn’t. Now the DOH has issued a dangerous directive to companies providing services to brain injury survivors in New York that will prove devastating to the quality of life for many survivors and, not incidentally, is brutally unfair to some class-act providers across the state.

A couple of years back the DOH determined that providers offering home care staff needed to become licensed home care agencies. Many providers did just that, and some who are waiting on a response to their already-filed applications have been told, reportedly by a by-telephone directive from DOH employee Beth Gnozzio, they have 30 days to transfer their survivors to agencies that are already licensed home care agencies.

Never mind that these agencies lived up to their end of the bargain, never mind that survivors and families will suffer. Compassion and fairness are, in this and too many other instances, not on the menu for survivor, their families and those providers that are, in truth, honorable.

Follow the Money

This blog hopes that every survivor demands a fair hearing in response to this and, it would be interesting to follow the money. In other words, did any already-licensed home care agency contribute or give money in a way that prompted this decision?

The Second Victimization

This brutal directive is unfair to providers who’ve trained their staff and and lived up to their end of the filing for licensure process with the DOH. Worse still, it is brutal because it will mean the consumers, survivors like me, will suffer even more loss. They will lose relationships with people and agencies they have come to trust and rely on. In victimology, the treatment crime victims all too often experiences at the hands of the system is accurately called the second victimization, and so it is in this case.

Rumors Say Housing Subsidy at Risk

On top of this, rumors persist that the housing subsidy for those participating in the waiver is about to be cut, which would be devastating and likely keep people in or send people back to institutions and, in some cases, create homelessness.

Get Your Voices Heard

This blog is urging all interested parties to call and write to Beth Gnozzio and, perhaps more importantly, to call and write Deputy Commissioner Mark Kissinger.

Ms. Gnozzio can be reached at 518-486-4315. Her e-mail is mjg07@health.state.ny.us.

Mark Kissinger can be reached at 518-402-5673. His e-mail is mlk15@health.state.ny.us

And Remember

Your independence is only as strong as the independence of your neighbors.

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