We the undersigned hereby petition the Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) to put an immediate halt to the cancellations of Medicaid Provider contracts by the MeckLINK MCO and appoint an independent Review Board to review and approve all contract termination recommendations from MeckLINK MCO staff.  The current appeals process denies due process and will bankrupt most small providers even if the Provider is successful in challenging the termination.

The MeckLINK MCO has engaged in a targeted effort against small and overwhelmingly minority owned provider agencies in order to remove them from the network of Medicaid providers, deny consumer choice and access to services.  MeckLINK has documented its intent to manage its funding shortfalls by reducing the number of providers in the network.  In a July 2, 2013 briefing document MeckLINK revealed their number one action to manage their budget shortfall was to “Manage service expense cost through Utilization/ Network Management”.  Network management cannot be used to target small businesses in Mecklenburg County and deny a Provider a fair and equal opportunity to participate in a publically funded program as a provider of services. 

Small providers have been disproportionately audited by MeckLINK and administrative deficiencies have been trumped up and stacked to reach the level of major contract violations.  North Carolina Medicaid and MeckLINK’s own rules outline that administrative and staffing issues identified in an audit are addressed with a Plan of Correction (POC).  However, MeckLINK has chosen to pursue contract terminations with small providers.

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