The state Agency of Human Services has abandoned, for now, a plan to contract with a Missouri company to provide rides for Medicaid patients to medical appointments.
The state has decided to back off a pending deal with Medical Transportation Management, Inc., of Lake St. Louis, Missouri, after hearing concerns about the company’s performance in other states.
Cathleen Voyer, director of the Agency’s housing and transportation section, says there were several concerns raised by transit providers.
In some states, there have been complaints that include MTM clients waiting for rides for hours. In 2005, MTM paid $2.4 million to the state of Missouri to resolve a state investigation into concerns over concerns about Medicaid fraud, contract problems and antitrust violations.
Voyer said the state’s current Medicaid transportation agreement, with the Vermont Public Transportation Association, an association of transit organizations, will remain in place at least through the end of the year, while the state re-bids the contract that was to go to MTM.
MTM spokeswoman Sandra Whittaker says such decisions by states aren’t uncommon, and that MTM will try again for the contract.
She says problems attributed to MTM aren’t indicative of the high-quality transportation services it provides.