Incomplete information found at MCSC Inc.

By Mary Wade Burnside
Times West Virginian

FAIRMONT September 20, 2008 02:13 am

— State reviewers looking into the files at Marion County Senior Citizens Inc. found incomplete documentation for the Lighthouse and Medicaid programs, and further investigation is ongoing to determine if any funds will have to be returned.
“The documentation is not sufficient to justify the billings,” said Ken Webb, the chief financial officer for the West Virginia Bureau of Senior Services in Charleston. “The review will continue on that to determine if payback is required.”
Problems first emerged earlier this summer, before the sudden resignation of MCSC Inc. executive director Jone Webb in late July as well as one of her employees, Josie Plyman, under circumstances that were not fully explained by the organization’s board of directors.
The West Virginia Board of Senior Services administers the Lighthouse program, which provides in-home help to senior citizens who do not qualify for Medicaid, Ken Webb said.
A review by Elizabeth Boggess of the Bureau of Senior Services found the insufficient documentation, he said. Because Boggess also previously had done similar reviews for Medicaid, administered by a separate agency, she notified Medicaid reviewers, who also found insufficient documentation for services that agency had provided, he said.
Reviews so far indicate just the lack a proper documentation, and no evidence exists that the Bureau of Senior Services was billed for services that were not provided, Ken Webb said.
“The feeling from the nurse was that there was a lot of missing documentation being required to justify the billing for the services,” he said. “So the record-keeping was far from sufficient.”
Ken Webb does not expect solving the matter to be a problem because both the first interim director at MCSC Inc., Bill Lytton, and the current interim director, Phil Turner, are retired from the West Virginia Bureau of Senior Services.
“We are continuing to think that the changes are being made,” Ken Webb said. “We have been in constant contact with them about that. I can’t answer whether there will be a payback, but the usual procedure is that if we cannot find sufficient documentation, they can require paybacks of all those billings.”
In addition to a lack of documentation, another problem found at MCSC Inc. in a review done upon Jone Webb’s departure was an outstanding debt for several months to Fairmont General Hospital for meal services.
“That was an issue that was going to affect cash flow, and so we were able to work that out,” Ken Webb said. “We did provide them with additional funding so they were able to take care of that.”
MCSC Inc. has an annual budget of $2 million, said the organization’s attorney, David Sims. Ken Webb said the investigation might find that the senior center is trying to provide more services than it has the funds for.
Lytton, the former deputy commissioner for the Bureau of Senior Services, left the interim post in late August and was replaced by Turner, a former commissioner of the bureau.
Turner was unavailable for comment Friday on what is being done to improve the documentation procedures at MCSC Inc. Reached at his home in South Carolina, Lytton did not want to address that issue, saying it would be more appropriate for Turner to comment.
However, Lytton said he does believe the problem will be solved.
“I think it’s going to be fine,” he said. “I think under the interim leadership of Phil Turner, they will go ahead and address the issues they need to and be well on their way.”
Meanwhile, the search for a permanent executive director to take over Jone Webb’s job continues, Sims said, and has taken longer than expected.
“We offered the position to another director at another facility in Morgan County, but due to family obligations, the person was unable to take the job,” Sims said.
Another candidate was promising, Sims said, but the interview process stopped when she learned that the salary range for the position would be $50,000-$60,000, less than she already was making.
Ads will go out on monster.com this weekend as the search takes another tact, Sims said. The board of directors has decided to downplay the importance of someone with a health background and instead to look for someone with more business administration experience.
“The resumés we got the last time were from social workers, and because it really is a business — it has a substantial budget — the board decided that it may be best if we could in the new search look for a person that has a more business background as opposed to social work,” Sims said.
A deadline of Oct. 10 has been set to receive resumés, Sims said, and the board of directors hopes to have an executive director hired by the end of October. Turner has agreed to stay on at least until the end of the year to see the process completed and help train a new director.
The new director “would work with Phil for about a month, and then we’re hoping that by Dec. 1, we’ll have a new director who will be the permanent director,” Sims said.
E-mail Mary Wade Burnside at mwburnside@timeswv.com.