Tag Archives: mark kissinger

The care-less leadership in NYS’s DOH & TBISCC

Posted on by
Reply

I think I’ve reached the age where if someone is going to lie to me, the least they could do is make a little effort and be halfway good at it. Bad enough there are irresponsible, unethical people who have power over the lives of others, worse when those people lie and make the rules up as they go along, endangering lives of others in the process.

A November 5 article in the New York Times about the frightening state of affairs in New York State is chilling.  It also accurately reflects the kind of sloppy sub-standard oversight the New York State Department of Health has brought to the state’s Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) Waiver

It is a well known fact that the DOH refuses to tell people who file complaints related to the TBI Waiver the results of their complaints. They never have. In fact, several Regional Resource Development Specialists, DOH contract employees who oversee the waiver in various regions throughout the state, have told this writer and others they are instructed not to provide the results.  Until recently when their contract to answer the complaint line ended, even the Brain Injury Association of NY State was never informed of the results.

This kind of mangled dysfunction may explain why Deputy DOH Commissioner Mark Kissinger  reminded me last week of the comedian Richard Pryor. Pryor used to tell the story of how his wife caught him in bed with another woman. “You gonna believe me or your lyin’ eyes?!” Pryor exclaimed. And so it was that when last week I emailed Mr. Kissinger asking – again – when the DOH was going to inform complaints of the results of their complaints, he wrote back saying the DOH does inform complainants of the results! Like I said, if someone is going to lie to me the least they could do is make an effort not to sound, well, like a fool. And so, I sent him the dates of complaints I filed in 2010 and 2011 and am still waiting for the results. I would be remiss if I didn’t tell you that a freedom of information request I filed this summer with the DOH asking for the results of my complaints was denied.

And then of course we have the chair of the Traumatic Brain Injury Services Coordinating Council Michael Kaplen who will never remind anyone of Richard Pryor. Kaplen, whose term on the council expired in 2004, still clings to his seat and chairmanship like his life depended on it. His true colors showed during the September 12 council meeting when he  immediately moved to adjourn the meeting  after the council was publicly informed  by this writer that the quality of lives and the lives themselves of waiver participants were at risk because of the DOH. And, when the DOH and New Yorkers with brain injuries could benefit from a TBISCC if it did what its supposed to do, provide proposals to the DOH to better the lives of New Yorkers with brain injuries, Kaplen cancelled the council meeting scheduled for November 15 and provided no follow-up date.

Neither Kaplen nor the DOH will explain the reasons for the cancellation. It has become clear that most if not all council members were given no explanation of the cancellation either.

Let me be clear, the TBI Waiver and the TBISCC are critically important to the lives of New Yorkers with brain injuries. They just need to be run by people who give a damn and who are inclusive in their approach.

Two things: if people suffer and or lose their homes or  lives because of the actions or inactions of the DOH, those in the DOH should be charged, tried, and, if found guilty, jailed. And if the DOH wants to, say, take one small step in the right direction, it might be interested to know that the New York City number it now gives out for the TBI Waiver complaint line belongs to someone who hasn’t worked for them in quite some time. And that’s no lie.

 

NYS DOH considering the possibility of justice

Posted on by
Reply

The NYS Department of Health says it will consider telling those who file complaints related to the state’s TBI Waiver  – primarily people with disabilities who live with brain injuries -  the results of their complaints. Currently complainants are never told. In fact, several RRDCs (Regional Resource Development Centers) throughout the state say they’ve been directed by DOH not to tell complainants the outcome of their complaints. RRDCs are agencies under contract with DOH to oversee waiver providers and participants.

On June 30th this writer sent an email to NYS Deputy DOH Commissioner Mark Kissinger which read, in part, “On behalf of Kahrmann Advocacy Coalition members and all those who care about brain injury survivors in the state, I am asking you to immediately issue a directive requiring that those who file complaints related to the TBI Waiver are to be informed of the results of their complaint within 60 days of filing the complaint.  Right now complainants are never informed of the outcome of their complaints – never.”

Kissinger responded via email saying, “I will have staff look into your suggestion and get back to you within a reasonable period of time.” I’ve heard nothing yet. It takes more than two weeks to decide if justice should be served?

I wonder what DOH staff have to look into? Are people really sitting around a table somewhere wondering whether complainants should be told the outcomes of their complaints? Who would argue that they shouldn’t? Well, the DOH for one.  Groups like the state’s Traumatic Brain Injury Services Coordinating Council and the Brain Injury Association of NY State need to publically speak up. Any and all groups who say they are committed to the notion that people with disabilities deserve equal justice under the law and equality on the regulatory front should be outraged, and outraged so others notice. Silence is not an option for them. To remain silent is to support the DOH’s continued assault on the rights of people who live with brain injuries.

If you want to let DOH know your feelings on this, you can write to Mark Kissinger at mlk15@health.state.ny.us or call his office at 518-402-5673.

A Renegade NYS Agency

Posted on by
Reply

There are, as you might guess,  state and private agencies who put great effort  into convincing the public at large that they truly care about the people they serve and are working very very hard to meet their needs. Peel back a  few layers of public-relations spin and you will oftentimes find nothing could be further than the truth. Too often the motive is to look rather than do good, and raise a little money while you’re at it.

A few people I work closely with are beginning to look deeper into the activities of a non-profit agency. As those of you who read this blog already know, the NYS Department of Health is a problem in nearly every sense of the word when it comes to the lives of brain injury survivors in the state. However, in fairness to the DOH, it does not fall into the category of an agency who tries to look good. It makes little to look good at all because it is hard to determine who is actually holding them accountable. They are an arrogant renegade state agency if their ever was one. The way they treated the TBISCC (Traumatic Brain Injury Services Coordinating Council) earlier this month reeks of arrogance.

The TBISCC, to its credit, has asked the DOH to speak on the problems with Medicaid Fair Hearings being faced by brain injury survivors on the state’s TBIU Waiver because the DOH last year gave a verbal directive blocking their case managers from advocating for them at the hearings. The day before the TBISCC’s meeting on April 14, the DOH notified TBISCC Chair Michael Kaplen that no one would be available to discuss the matter.

Now, this writer and others wrote to the DOH’s  Cheryl Veith asking her to put us on a several years old email-list that tells the public when the TBISCC is having its public meetings and sends out agendas and minutes when they become available. Apparently the DOH has decided the mailing list was too friendly. Ms. Veith responded with “We have recently implemented a process whereby announcement of scheduled TBICC meetings, minutes of the last meeting, and a draft agenda for the next scheduled meeting will be posted for the public to view on the Department of Health website at: www.nyhealth.gov/events/meetings/index.htm.”

Some who live with brain injuries live with memory deficits, processing challenges, and more. Wading through a website can be tantamount to climbing Mt. Everest without oxygen.  This fact has been shared with Ms. Veith and other DOH officials like Deputy Commissioner Mark Kissinger, Mary Ann Anglin, Lydia Kosinski and Carla Williams, all of whom will do their level best to convince anyone who crosses their path that they really really really care about brain injury survivors. So far, a large number of survivors and their families and healthcare professionals who work hard to help us think that’s bunk.

Reinstating the email list is, to use a phrase right out of the ADA, a reasonable accommodation for those of us who live with brain injuries. I doubt they will reinstate it   because for some time now there are two words no one links to the NYS DOH: reasonable and accommodating.

Actions Speak Louder than… (you know the rest)

Posted on by
1

Last year I had a face to face meeting with three officials from the New York State Department of Health: Mark Kissinger, deputy commissioner, Mary Ann Anglin, Division Director, and Carla Williams,  a deputy director and tough-guy wannabe.

Our conversation at the time, one the three officials insisted not be recorded, probably because Williams knew she was going to launch into what can best be described as laughable attempt to be intimidating, revolved around the state’s decision to sign a contract that would allow Timothy J. Feeney back into the state’s TBI waiver knowing full well he misrepresents his credentials. The contract was signed with STIC (Southern Tier Independence Center) in Binghamton. “STIC’s the one that’s on the hook” said Williams, mustering up a dramatically poor imitation of a snarling delivery. “If they don’t live up to the contract it’s on them.”

I left the meeting thinking there may have been at least some sincerity in their claim that survivors would be treated well and with respect and my oh my how all three said they cared so much. I was wrong, though, even now, I think Anglin might. I say I was wrong because Feeney while operating under the contract and being paid by your tax dollars continues to misrepresent his credentials and even though a complaint was filed with the DOH, they have not responded.  Why? They simply don’t care.

Don’t believe me? Ask them. Write to Kissinger at mlk15@health.state.ny.us or Anglin at Maa05@health.state.ny.us or Williams at Crw03@health.state.ny.us

If you want some real fun, write to the DOH’s Beth Gnozzio who issued a directive in a phone conference that TBI Waiver staff are not allowed to appear in support of their clients in Medicaid Fair Hearings. As her why she and the DOH refuse to put this directive in writing? Gnozzio can be reached at mjg07@health.state.ny.us

And copy me if you’d like. peterkahrmann@gmail.com

NY State DOH Communicates but…

Posted on by
1

If material presented by the New York State Department of Health  is to be believed, no DOH employee has ever mentioned Medicaid Fair Hearings in writing and the DOH has absolutely no policies and procedures when it comes to Medicaid Fair Hearings, not even one.

It is hard to imagine that the absence of any Medicaid Fair Hearing policies and procedures and the absence of any mention of them in writing by anyone in the DOH is anything but a willful act on the part of the DOH.

Some background. In December of last year this writer filed a FOIL (Freedom of Information Law)  request with the DOH seeking, and I quote:

– Any and all policies and procedures and any and all emails or other forms of written or recorded communications that are related to Medicaid Fair Hearings.

– Any and all policies and procedures and any and all emails or other forms of written or recorded communications that are related to the state’s traumatic brain injury waiver, the RRDCs ( Regional Resource Development Centers) and RRDSs (Regional resource Development Specialists) and assistant RRDSs and their role in Medicaid Fair Hearings

– Any and all policies and procedures and any and all emails or other forms of written or recorded communication that are related to directives from DOH (and or contract employees of DOH) that relate to TBI Waiver providers and their role in Medicaid Fair Hearings

– Any and all information that relates to DOH Policies and Procedures that apply to Medicaid Fair Hearings

In response to this request I received only a training binder for fair hearing officers, that’s it.

A case in point: DOH employee Maribeth Gnozzio has a seemingly well-earned reputation for, with rare exception, not returning phone calls or emails. Nevertheless, she communicates rather frequently with the the Traumatic Brain Injury Waiver’s RRDCs  she is charged with overseeing across the state. The RRDCs oversee waiver providers and participants in different regions.

However, it seems that despite sending in the neighborhood of 3,658 emails to RRDCs in 2010, she too never mentions Medicaid Fair Hearings once. A remarkable feat indeed since several sources say it was Gnozzio who told RRDCs during a phone conferences last year that waiver providers are not to appear in support of waiver participants in Medicaid Fair Hearings, a nasty Machiavellian directive to say the least and a directive that can only be designed to undercut a waiver participant’s chances in a fair hearing. The results have no doubt  been brutal for more than one person living with a brain injury since it no coincidence that this rather sadistic DOH directive was issued at a time when there seems to be a wide-ranging effort to discharge people from the waiver or notify them their services are being cut. To send some of us who live with brain injuries into a Medicaid Fair Hearing without our waiver case managers can be like asking someone to climb Mount Everest without oxygen, and the DOH knows it.

Here is a regional breakdown of the approximate number of emails sent by Gnozzio to RRDCs in 2010:

Capital District – 226

Buffalo – 236

Long Island – 886

Lower Hudson Valley – 506

New York City – 704

Adirondacks – 244

Rochester – 140

Binghamton – 260

Syracuse – 130

Sent to all RRDCs – 326