Judge extends state takeover of Alameda County health plan
By Matt O'Brien, Contra Costa Times | |
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
County officials opposed the state takeover and for weeks fought in court to regain local control of the nonprofit health provider, but Harbin-Forte agreed with state regulators that the plan's failure to process and promptly pay back tens of thousands of medical claims could endanger the care of its enrollees.
"Hopefully, it will be a thriving, successful, code-compliant" agency after the state sorts through its finances, Harbin-Forte said during a Wednesday hearing in the Hayward Hall of Justice. "I think everybody wants this to be over with as soon as possible."
A state attorney said Wednesday this is the first time the state has ever seized a public health plan, though it previously took over three failing private plans -- of those, two were rehabilitated and one fell apart.
Founded in 1996, the
"The Alliance, for over a decade, was one of the highest-performing medical care measures in the state," said
"A combination of factors brought it to its knees," Briscoe said.
A flood of new enrollees in January, an expensive new IT system that did not pan out, and inadequate state payments for disabled seniors all stressed the organization this year, Briscoe said.
Briscoe and other prominent
The state
Alliance directors and board members clashed with Abernathy and had said the consultant's shift to the conservatorship was a conflict of interest because he would have had a financial incentive to show the plan was unable to fix its own problems. Abernathy wrote in court papers that
"The conservator continues to find problems," said
While few patients are likely to have followed the legal wranglings, some have noticed problems this year.
"The providers I've seen are good. The administrative stuff is a mess," said
Earlier this year, Hamlett said he would have to wait four hours on the phone to talk to an Alliance representative. His average wait time later shortened, but was still "pretty difficult," he said.
Frustrated by the problems, some patients have quit the managed care provider. The Rev.
"The reason I left is it takes too long to see a doctor," Garner said. "If you miss one appointment at
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