Nearly four in 10 positions at the state Bureau of Medical Services are vacant -- a troubling figure for an agency that will likely have to serve far more West Virginians when federal health-reform legislation passes.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Nearly four in 10 positions at the state Bureau for Medical Services are vacant -- a troubling figure for an agency that will probably have to serve far more West Virginians when federal health-reform legislation passes.
On Thursday, members of the Legislative Oversight Commission on Health and Human Resources Accountability received charts showing that 39 percent of the bureau's 117 positions were empty as of June 30. The bureau administers Medicaid in West Virginia.
Medicaid expansion is part of several pieces of pending federal reform legislation, and lawmakers are questioning how the bureau will handle it.
"We're going to be dumping a lot more people into the system," said Sen. Ron Stollings, D-Boone, who is a physician.
The state needs to ensure that the agency has staffing to handle the "avalanche" of work it will face, he said.
Medical Services Commissioner Marsha Morris said the problem keeps her up at night.
"It is the vision of that avalanche that wakes me at 2 a.m. every day, and it's getting faster and faster," she told lawmakers.
Both the federal stimulus act and impending health reform are changing the type of employees the bureau needs, she said.
New federal reporting standards, the possible creation of a health insurance exchange, and other changes mean the state needs people who can "build the technical side of Medicaid" by administering databases, tracking eligibility and overseeing contracts, Morris said.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Nearly four in 10 positions at the
state Bureau for Medical Services are vacant -- a troubling figure for an agency that will probably have to serve far more West Virginians when federal health-reform legislation passes.
On Thursday, members of the Legislative Oversight Commission on Health and Human Resources Accountability received charts showing that 39 percent of the bureau's 117 positions were empty as of June 30. The bureau administers Medicaid in West Virginia.
Medicaid expansion is part of several pieces of pending federal reform legislation, and lawmakers are questioning how the bureau will handle it.
"We're going to be dumping a lot more people into the system," said Sen. Ron Stollings, D-Boone, who is a physician.
The state needs to ensure that the agency has staffing to handle the "avalanche" of work it will face, he said.
Medical Services Commissioner Marsha Morris said the problem keeps her up at night.
"It is the vision of that avalanche that wakes me at 2 a.m. every day, and it's getting faster and faster," she told lawmakers.
Both the federal stimulus act and impending health reform are changing the type of employees the bureau needs, she said.
New federal reporting standards, the possible creation of a health insurance exchange, and other changes mean the state needs people who can "build the technical side of Medicaid" by administering databases, tracking eligibility and overseeing contracts, Morris said.
"We need different [job] classifications within Medicaid," she said.
The bureau is also grappling with retirements, she said after the meeting.
Overall, 12.5 percent of positions at the Department of Health and Human Resources are vacant, as of June 30. That's up from 9.9 percent in fiscal year 2007.
This fiscal year, vacancy rates range from about 8 percent at the Bureau for Children and Families to 39 percent at BMS.
Lawmakers often hear DHHR officials use the fact that the department is understaffed as an "excuse" for why work isn't getting done -- which may or may not be justified, said Sen. Evan Jenkins, D-Cabell, who is executive director of the West Virginia State Medical Association.
"The staffing issue is constantly coming up," he said.
Because of state personnel regulations, the department doesn't have the flexibility to recruit employees at competitive salaries, DHHR spokesman John Law told commission members.
Especially in Medicaid positions, "we are faced with a conundrum that with the salaries we pay, we're often not ... able to hire people," Law said. "And the vacancies being there are a real problem."
Reach Alison Knezevich at
alis...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-1240.
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What DHHR needs and has been planning for years is a complete reorganization and reclassification of its personnel system. Things won't change much until the policy makers "make" this happen...
OR they go ahead and partially or entirely privatize Medicaid?
Especially in Medicaid positions, "we are faced with a conundrum that with the salaries we pay, we're often not ... able to hire people," Law said. "And the vacancies being there are a real problem."