Tag Archives: STIC

More than a Quarter Million New York Dollars

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If, for some odd reason, you recently found yourself thinking bureaucracy couldn’t get any more dysfunctional, think again. Despite hard economic times, New York state officials entered into a contract that will funnel more than a quarter million hard-earned New York State tax dollars into a project even though they are fully aware that the implementation of the contract includes the widely discredited Timothy J. Feeney.

As the several thousand regular readers of this blog know, Feeney is the person who continues to tromp about claiming to be Timothy J. Feeney PhD or Dr. Timothy Feeney when he no more has a valid doctorate than Fred Flintstone does (apologies to Mr. Flintstone). Feeney doesn’t have a valid masters degree either.

Nonetheless, New York State decided to go ahead an enter into a contract with the Southern Tier Independence Center (STIC) in Binghamton which in turn will give Timmy a major role in the lives of brain injury survivors, their families and health care providers, all of who face enough challenges as it is, much less having to face the unwanted challenge of dealing with dishonest man who is part of a contract that with drain more a quarter million from state coffers.

While it is unclear (though we can guess) what went into the decision to funnel more than a quarter of a million dollars into a contract that empowers a fraud, there is one thing that clearly did not play a role in the decision; a sincere desire to provide the best services to people who live with brain injuries, their families, and the honorable providers that day in and day out try to provide the best services possible.

A Tarnished STIC Brings Feeney Back

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The New York State Department of Health has signed a contract with the Southern Tier Independent Living Center (STIC) in Binghamton New York giving it the neurobehavioral project for the state’s traumatic brain injury waiver.  Even though STIC Executive Director Maria Dibble knows Timothy J. Feeney misrepresents his credentials to people with disabilities (including children!), the very people she, STIC, and Feeney claim to serve, the neurobehavioral project will once again be handed to Feeney.

While the contract still needs to go through a review by New York’s attorney general and comptroller for approval, sources say it is unlikely the contract will be voided.

Any advocate or advocacy group that does not openly voice its disapproval of Feeney’s presence in the mix, is, by default, part of the problem. It’s like claiming to be a civil rights organization and then keeping your mouth shut when people are being made to ride in the back of the bus. Any provider who allows Feeney anywhere near their program clearly doesn’t think much of the people they claim to serve.

What would be interesting would be to have a public debate between myself and Mr. Feeney (he’d have to find some backbone) at which he can explain why it is okay to mislead people with disabilities and lie about his credentials.

In the meantime, I am urging all advocates and interested parties to file complaints with the government fraud division of the State Comptroller and the state attorney general’s healthcare industry task force. There are other investigations under way now into Feeney that I cannot talk about.

You can also file your concerns and complaints with the Kahrmann Advocacy Coalition at kahrma1(insert at sign)gmail.com

No human being deserves to receive their healthcare services or have their healthcare services influenced by someone who misrepresents his credentials. Imagine your family members receiving care from a doctor and then you find out the doctor is not a doctor at all.

Feeney and those supporting him ought to be doubled up with guilt, but that’s not happening.  It’s hard to feel guilt when you don’t have a conscience.

Feeney, the White House, Editors, Elected Officials & Criminal Investigations

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If New York State enters into a contract allowing Timothy J. Feeney to once again impact the lives of survivors of brain injury and those who provide services to them, several things will take place. Before I get to them, let’s review some of the facts.

  • Fact: For more 15 years now Timothy J. Feeney has misrepresented his educational credentials to New York State Officials, people with brain injuries of all ages, children with disabilities, educational institutions and healthcare providers.
  • Fact: Feeney’s so-called PhD and so-called Masters Degree were issued by Greenwich University, a now defunct diploma mill whose degrees are not recognized as valid anywhere in the world.
  • Fact: The New York State Department of Health now knows Feeney has misrepresented and continues to misrepresent his credentials.
  • Fact: STIC (the Southern Tier Independence Living Center), the provider likely to be awarded the contract and give the work to Feeney and his people, has been fully informed of Feeney’s past and present misrepresentations.
  • Fact: STIC and the New York State Department of Health have been informed that Feeney is under contract with the Fort Ann Central School District in New York’s Washington County to work with children (children!) with disabilities , where he is again misrepresenting himself in the process. Fort Ann has been informed as well and has continued working with Feeney; so much for putting the children first.
  • Fact: If Feeney is part of the contract he will be getting paid in taxpayer dollars, Medicaid dollars which means your money and mine will be paying a dishonest individual.

If New York State enters into any contract which allows Feeney to be part of the Statewide Neurobehavioral Project, an entity that wields enormous power over the lives of survivors of brain injury and their families as well as those who provide services to them, then New York and STIC are making it clear they have no respect for people with brain injuries. Why on earth should those of us who live with brain injuries have to deal with someone who lies about who they are? Someone who is unqualified?

And what was the dysfunctional thinking and the behind the scenes backslapping that went on that led to the decision to contract with someone everyone knows is a fraud? What did not go on behind the scenes was any real concern for those of us who live with brain injuries, our loved ones, and the honest healthcare providers that do give a damn. What did not go on was any respect whatsoever for the hard-earned taxpayer dollars that will pay Feeney and his crew.

Back to what  will take place should Feeney and his people be involved in the contract.

  • Letters will be written to the editors of all daily newspapers in New York State and neighboring states detailing the actions of the State and Feeney and STIC.
  • Letters will be sent out to a wide array of State and Federal officials, including President Obama, Healthcare Secretary Sibelius, as well as various members of law enforcement given that historically Feeney has interacted with the judicial system again misrepresenting himself in the process.
  • Last, but by no means least, letters will be sent to CMS (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services), the Federal Agency the oversees the spending of Medicaid and Medicare dollars in all states, and an agency that will not be pleased to here New York has knowingly entered into a contract with someone they know is misrepresenting his credentials.

The ball is in the court of the State and STIC. We’ll see what happens.

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Could Feeney Be Charged Next?

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A special prosecutor has been assigned to pursue charges against Steven B. Feldman, a Saratoga County New York man who, New York State Police say, used his educational credentials from a diploma mill calling itself Hamilton College to get contracts with Saratoga County.

And what, you ask, is Hamilton College? It is a diploma mill just like Greenwich University, the diploma mill Timothy J. Feeney has repeatedly used to land himself three contracts with the New York State Department of Health and, not incidentally, take part in court cases as an expert.  Moreover, one would like to think any party who aided and abetted either Feldman or Feeney in what amounts to nothing more than a con would be criminally charged too.

According to PostStar.Com, Feldman “provided court-ordered (mental health) evaluations without adequate education.” 

In New York’s Washington County, Fort Ann New York School Superintendent Maureen VanBuren and some school board members have been informed about Feeney’s bogus credentials so if they retained their contractual relationship with him as it appears they have, who knows what may be in store for them.

Clinton County District Andrew Wylie, a district attorney from Clinton County will handle the case against Feldman.

The New York State DOH and the Southern Tier Independence Center have been fully informed about Feeney’s false credentials and both parties have received communication from brain injury survivors, family members and, in some cases, providers, asking that Feeney and his staff be stopped.  Some providers have said they will stop providing services if Feeney returns.  If STIC does sign and contract and does  give the work to Feeney, they did it once before, one has to wonder where the long arm of the law will reach next.

And hey, the alphabetical order of Feeney and Feldman is pretty tight. Wouldn’t it be amusing if people were assigned to cell blocks alphabetically? Lord knows the two would have lots to talk about.

Stay tuned.

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Where the Facts Lead

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Advocacy is not easy.

As a human rights advocate you see the ability of human beings to dehumanize other human beings, often for financial game and, almost as often, so those doing the dehumanizing can feel powerful, though it takes no power to dehumanize someone, just an ability to be heartless. You see lives lost, figuratively and literally.

I hold fast to something Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said. “"The ultimate measure of a man  is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at a time of challenge and controversy. The true neighbor will risk his position and even his life for the welfare of others." Is is easy to hold fast in times of challenge and controversy?  No, of course not. It can be brutally hard, scary, painful, and, at times, deeply lonely. But I can live with all that. What I can’t live with, what is far more painful, is the task of staying silent when bigotry and discrimination is at work.

Perhaps one of the most grueling things for me is when I see other advocates set aside their advocacy when it is a friend or family member or business colleague or revenue source doing the dehumanizing. Staying silent, or turning a blind eye when people are being denied their rights, or are being misled, lied to, hurt, is not in my repertoire. In my more selfish moments, I wish it was, but it is not. It is painful when people you know stay silent when someone they happen to know is doing the dehumanizing, the discriminating. I’ve had some who I’ve admired and genuinely liked lash out at me when my advocacy efforts bump into members of their inner circle.

I can’t help where the facts lead.

Once, many years ago, I worked for a long-term healthcare facility in the Bronx. The company held a Christmas Party in a restaurant’s basement level banquet hall. To get to the hall you had to walk down a very long steep flight of stairs. There were no bathrooms on the same floor as the hall and, there was no elevator. This, of course, posed a problem for a good friend of mine who, like me, worked for this healthcare company and was a wheelchair user. Jim Cesario is about as dazzlingly good with a wheelchair as one can get, but still, rolling down a steep flight of stairs and then up again when you had to leave or, say, use the bathroom, would be rather difficult.

Anyway, once I’d learned of the set-up I announced I would not attend the party. Jim along with his wife and daughters were not going, for obvious reasons, and several staff members decided not to go in protest because of the sites inaccessibility. Marked as the ring leader, I was called into the administrator’s office where a few things were explained to me. Yes, they knew this was not fair to Mr. Cesario but after all he was the only wheelchair user on staff and they’d gotten a really good discount price for the hall. And secondly, didn’t I understand that my refusal to go was a blatant sign of disrespect for the company owner and the company as a whole? I said it didn’t make a difference if it was one wheelchair user or dozens, and as far as disrespecting the owner was concerned, perhaps the owner and all members of upper management ought to consider how they’d feel if they had to be carried up and down stairs – in front of their spouse, children and co-workers no less! – every time they needed to use the bathroom.

Needless to say, the party was held in the basement hall. I didn’t go. What’s worth noting is the party was thrown by a healthcare company that would tell the world it fully supported equal rights for wheelchair users, unless of course there was a discount to be had.

And then, in recent history, I uncover the fact that Tim Feeney was lying when he told – and continues to tell -  the world that he is Dr. Feeney or Tim Feeney PhD, when the only valid college degree he has is a bachelors. For fifteen years he was arguably the most powerful voice in the implementation of New York State’s Traumatic Brain Injury Waiver, a form of Medicaid reimbursement for survivors of brain injury living in the community. During that time Feeney would dictate policy and procedures to companies providing waiver services, inflict admission holds, direct that some survivors  be removed from the waiver or stop others from getting on the waiver.

Now you would think that when the truth was revealed, the advocacy community, not to mention the survivors, their families and providers would be glad. Most were. But some attacked me for bringing the truth into the light. Why? In some cases it was because Feeney was linked to people they liked and were friends with, namely former New York DOH employee Patricia Green Gumson and current DOH employee Bruce Rosen.  Both oversaw the waiver for many years and did many truly good things during that time. However, investigation of Feeney revealed there was ample reason to believe both both Gumson and Rosen knew about Feeney’s misrepresentation and covered for him.

I can’t help where the facts lead.

And now it again appears that Feeney may be given the same powerful position in the waiver even though the DOH and STIC (Southern Tier Independence Center) in Binghamton, the company likely to be awarded the contract with DOH that may lead to Feeney’s return, are fully aware of Feeney’s dishonesty. Needless to say I’ve already had people reach out to me telling me that STIC is a highly reputable center. They are right. It is. But even the best of us, myself included, make mistakes in judgment sometimes. Do we deserve to be villainized? No. Do we deserve to be held accountable? Yes.

Which is exactly what I am doing.

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