http://www.wvgazette.com/section/News/200506133

June 13, 2005
DHHR officials criticized for not going to hearings

By The Associated Press

The Department of Health and Human Resources had a contractor attend public hearings on proposed changes to a Medicaid program because Medicaid officials believed if they were there the meetings would be confrontational and not constructive.

Medicaid recipients? families say that's insulting, and other state officials who routinely attend public hearings on contentious issues like regional jail placement and school consolidation say policy-makers need to be at such hearings to make them legitimate.

A public meeting should be held by public figures who are accountable directly to taxpayers who pay his or her salary, said Regional Jail Authority Executive Director Steve Canterbury.

If they believe that the decision maker isn't even there, then that gives them less confidence in the process and it undercuts accountability, in my opinion, he said.

McDowell County Superintendent Mark Manchin said public officials need to attend hearings, "looking people in the eye,"rather than relying on a third party."

"When it's filtered, the emotion is not present. The tone of the voice, the look, the physical part of the person, their body posture, all of that comes into giving me some thoughts on how a person feels," Manchin said. "There's so much into how a person feels about an issue that words cannot capture."

The DHHR contracted with officials from West Virginia University?s Center for Excellence in Disabilities to conduct the forums and provide information from them to the state about the Medicaid Title XIX waiver program.

The program serves more than 3,800 mentally retarded and developmentally disabled adults and children who otherwise would have to live in a residential care facility for the mentally retarded.

"This is not a debate, it?s public comment," said DHHR Secretary Martha Walker.

"Folks start talking to the policy-makers and trying to get people to change their mind about the policy," state Bureau of Medical Services Commissioner Nancy Atkins said. "The Center for Excellence in Disabilities are facilitating these for us, to really allow everyone to speak and to get the information."

DHHR spokesman John Law said, "If you have someone from the state there, [it] does tend to become confrontational, you tend to get into arguments with people, and that's not what we want at this level. We want clear comments from the state"

Debi Lewis of Morgantown, whose son is a waiver program participant, said, "It's like we?ve been told, "We have to listen to you, so we're going to send somebody to collect your comments. We're not going to give you any feedback on your comments, we're not going to answer questions, we're just going to collect your input."

"There?s been no back-and-forth whatsoever," Lewis said. ?They are doing the minimum that they can possibly do to appease the federal government. It's entirely one-sided."

Vicki Shaffer, who has cerebral palsy and receives waiver services, also was upset.

"They're making decisions about our lives and they?re not even going to be there to answer questions," Shaffer said. "How can we effect the change ... if they?re just going to read stuff on paper?"

Walker said the current draft application took into account public comment about a previous draft, and that her agency has met with Medicaid consumers and providers in the past.

"We do listen," Walker said.

Public comments will be taken seriously, said Lara Ramsburg, spokeswoman for Gov. Joe Manchin.

"I think their concern is that decisions have already been made and their comments won?t matter and that when the report gets there it won't matter. That is not true," Ramsburg said. "Their comments do matter. This report does matter."