Cardinal Innovations Continues To Resist Public Records Request Made By Dozier Miller Law Group Clients

CHARLOTTE, N.C., Sept. 28, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- In February and March of this year, the Mecklenburg County Board of Commissioners held public hearings related to Cardinal Innovations Healthcare's ("Cardinal") management of Medicaid services for Mecklenburg County residents. Mecklenburg County leaders raised serious questions about Cardinal, who has responsibility to deliver mental and behavioral health care to some of the county's most vulnerable citizens. During a County Commission meeting earlier this year, Assistant County Manager Anthony Trotman described Cardinal's service as inadequate. Commissioner Trevor Fuller followed Trotman's presentation saying, "We are in a mess and I fear that people's lives are being put at risk because of this." 

Consistent with the public meeting, concerns are mounting regarding Cardinal's business practices. To explore these concerns, on July 23, 2020 Stephanie Tyson, owner of Resourceful Solutions II, which has been providing mental health outpatient services for nearly 12 years, sent a public records request to Cardinal in an effort to obtain data and information that will provide a needed level of transparency for both the community and the public officials who are concerned about those in need.

Cardinal has not fully complied with the public records request. Accordingly, on September 25, 2020, Dozier Miller Law Group filed a Complaint (20-CVS-12925) in Mecklenburg County Superior Court on behalf of Tyson. In the Complaint, Tyson and her company allege, among other things, that they "are concerned that Cardinal may target denials of medically necessary mental health services in a way that provides for disparate payments to Black health care providers, leading to a negative impact on minority Medicaid members and a failure to provide needed support and services to some of the most vulnerable citizens of Mecklenburg County." Tyson further alleges in her Complaint that she has "serious concerns about denials of mental health services, use of public funds, highly paid executives, a lack of transparency, and cutting rates to providers, and, as a result of these concerns, issued a public records requests to Cardinal to examine these important issues."

The intent of this request is to shed light on whether Cardinal's business practices have denied medically necessary mental health services to Medicaid enrollees, including children, while also cutting Medicaid payment rates to certain provider agencies. Tyson is asking for these records to understand if racial disparities exist in Black provider agreements as well as if minority members are more likely to be denied essential mental and behavioral health services that they are entitled to receive.

"For years I have raised concerns about Cardinal's failure to provide support and services to our Latino, Tribal, and African American communities," said Tyson. Many citizens are suffering today because of those decisions by Cardinal's leadership, giving themselves raises and bonuses, instead of spending those dollars on Medicaid beneficiaries who are suffering from underlying health issues and where they are being impacted by COVID-19 in higher percentage than other racial groups."

Tyson believes Cardinal's denials of medically necessary mental health services, along with its efforts to conceal and intimidate providers regarding these inappropriate denials to include racially disparate payments to Black health care providers and members must be brought to light. "The discriminatory and retaliatory actions against providers like me who advocate on behalf of our community must be addressed," said Tyson.

SOURCE Dozier Miller Law Group