County agrees to apply for public transportation funding
NORWICH – Facing state funding cuts that are vital to the sustainability of public transportation in Chenango County, county officials are moving ahead with a cautionary measure to keep that funding flowing into the area.
Last week, the county’s Public Works Committee met with administrators of First Transit, the private bussing company and primary provider of public transportation in Chenango County. Since 2013, First Transit has seen drastic cuts in state aid due to changes brought about by the state’s handling of non-emergency Medicaid transportation.
Financial trouble for First Transit started in 2010, when the state Department of Health changed the way it manages medical transportation for Medicaid recipients. DOH was authorized under social services law to assume administrative management of non-emergency transportation in counties and, in an effort to save money at the state level, required a private Medicaid brokerage system to be implemented in each region of the state.
By 2013, DOH awarded Medical Answering Services, a Syracuse-based public transportation company, a state contract for the Central New York region which encompasses Chenango County.
Because DOH contracted with Medical Answering Services, Medicaid patients in Chenango County who previously relied on First Transit were switched to taxis and ambulance providers, some of which are from outside the area. The change hurt First Transit because the company’s stake in Chenango County relied heavily on Medicaid transportation subsidies from DOH.
To cope with the financial loss, First Transit was forced to cut its number of employees and routes in Chenango County in 2014. In response, DOH provided a one-time allocation of half a million dollars to the county last year to help ease and adjust First Transit’s fiscal burden.
The problem, says First Transit, is that money was a band-aid fix that hardly kept the company out of the red. DOH has made similar one-time allocations available again for 2016, but this time with the condition that the county enroll as an official Medicaid transportation service provider. And that, according to county officials, is a sticking point.
“When (DOH) did what they considered a fix to medical transportation, it severely impacted our rural transit system as well as other rural transit systems throughout upstate New York,” said County Clerk of the Board RC Woodford.
Enrolling as a Medicaid transportation provider calls into question concerns over liability, said Woodford, as well as the likelihood that funding will continue in the future.
Moreover, the DOH application to enroll as a Medicaid transportation provider requires the social security number of someone who represents the county – and that’s simply not fair to ask, said Public Works Committee Chair Dennis Brown.
“The question is, who do you ask to do that? What person in what chair is going to be willing to give up that information?” Brown said. “I don’t want to see a name put out there and be put in risk because we had to satisfy a silly government regulation.”
Regardless, DOH funding is critical to the survival of First Transit in the area. Jim Gorman, regional vice president for First Transit, made the case in front of Public Works Committee members last week.
“We’re asking that you send in an application,” said Gorman. “Once (Medical Answer Service) took over, $1.3 million in revenue that was going to the transit system was gone. That was a third of our budget that was just gone overnight,” he said, adding that First Transit’s currently working with lawmakers and lobbyists to reverse DOH’s decision to contract with Medical Answering Service. But for now, the one-time funding offered by DOH is a top priority.
“Money was in the state budget for this purpose; for systems that had a severe loss from service being taken away,” Gorman said. “If this money isn’t available, there’s no way we could afford to continue operating the system. It’s critical for next year ... Just getting an application in at this point will appease the Department of Health.”
Although committee members didn’t budge on abstaining from providing a social security number, they agreed to submit a Medicaid service provider application to DOH using the county’s federal ID number instead. Brown said the hope that the county’s ID number will be enough satisfy state requirements without jeopardizing the personal safety of an individual county representative.
Even if the county is awarded funding for 2016, county officials and First Transit are still uncertain about funding prospects for 2017.
Last week, the county’s Public Works Committee met with administrators of First Transit, the private bussing company and primary provider of public transportation in Chenango County. Since 2013, First Transit has seen drastic cuts in state aid due to changes brought about by the state’s handling of non-emergency Medicaid transportation.
Financial trouble for First Transit started in 2010, when the state Department of Health changed the way it manages medical transportation for Medicaid recipients. DOH was authorized under social services law to assume administrative management of non-emergency transportation in counties and, in an effort to save money at the state level, required a private Medicaid brokerage system to be implemented in each region of the state.
By 2013, DOH awarded Medical Answering Services, a Syracuse-based public transportation company, a state contract for the Central New York region which encompasses Chenango County.
Because DOH contracted with Medical Answering Services, Medicaid patients in Chenango County who previously relied on First Transit were switched to taxis and ambulance providers, some of which are from outside the area. The change hurt First Transit because the company’s stake in Chenango County relied heavily on Medicaid transportation subsidies from DOH.
To cope with the financial loss, First Transit was forced to cut its number of employees and routes in Chenango County in 2014. In response, DOH provided a one-time allocation of half a million dollars to the county last year to help ease and adjust First Transit’s fiscal burden.
The problem, says First Transit, is that money was a band-aid fix that hardly kept the company out of the red. DOH has made similar one-time allocations available again for 2016, but this time with the condition that the county enroll as an official Medicaid transportation service provider. And that, according to county officials, is a sticking point.
“When (DOH) did what they considered a fix to medical transportation, it severely impacted our rural transit system as well as other rural transit systems throughout upstate New York,” said County Clerk of the Board RC Woodford.
Enrolling as a Medicaid transportation provider calls into question concerns over liability, said Woodford, as well as the likelihood that funding will continue in the future.
Moreover, the DOH application to enroll as a Medicaid transportation provider requires the social security number of someone who represents the county – and that’s simply not fair to ask, said Public Works Committee Chair Dennis Brown.
“The question is, who do you ask to do that? What person in what chair is going to be willing to give up that information?” Brown said. “I don’t want to see a name put out there and be put in risk because we had to satisfy a silly government regulation.”
Regardless, DOH funding is critical to the survival of First Transit in the area. Jim Gorman, regional vice president for First Transit, made the case in front of Public Works Committee members last week.
“We’re asking that you send in an application,” said Gorman. “Once (Medical Answer Service) took over, $1.3 million in revenue that was going to the transit system was gone. That was a third of our budget that was just gone overnight,” he said, adding that First Transit’s currently working with lawmakers and lobbyists to reverse DOH’s decision to contract with Medical Answering Service. But for now, the one-time funding offered by DOH is a top priority.
“Money was in the state budget for this purpose; for systems that had a severe loss from service being taken away,” Gorman said. “If this money isn’t available, there’s no way we could afford to continue operating the system. It’s critical for next year ... Just getting an application in at this point will appease the Department of Health.”
Although committee members didn’t budge on abstaining from providing a social security number, they agreed to submit a Medicaid service provider application to DOH using the county’s federal ID number instead. Brown said the hope that the county’s ID number will be enough satisfy state requirements without jeopardizing the personal safety of an individual county representative.
Even if the county is awarded funding for 2016, county officials and First Transit are still uncertain about funding prospects for 2017.
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