STATE LAWMAKER’S TIES TO FRAUDULENT MISSOURI TRANSPORT COMPANY UNCOVERED

10/19/2006

ST. PAUL (10/19/06) – Minnesota DFL Chair Brian Melendez today called on State Representative Duke Powell (R-Burnsville) to come clean about his ties to a Missouri medical transportation company run out of its home state for Medicaid fraud.

Medical Transportation Management, Inc. (MTM) agreed to pay Missouri $2.4 million and forfeit more than $17 million in questionable billings to end an Attorney General’s investigation.  MTM was billing Missouri more than $40 million annually to manage medical transportation services for Medicaid recipients, including some who turned out to be deceased.

MTM now has a contract with the Minnesota Department of Human Services worth tens of millions of dollars for similar services.

According to his own campaign-finance reports, Powell has accepted campaign contributions from both MTM’s founder Lyn Griswold and its current President Alaina Maciá (Griswold).

Powell, the House Health Committee’s medical-transportation point person, is MTM’s staunchest defender in the Legislature.  During a committee debate on a Republican-sponsored plan to delay MTM’s Minnesota contract, Powell urged lawmakers to vote against the plan. The plan passed committee, but the Republican leadership kept it off the House floor.

“Representative Powell should tell the public, especially his own constituents, whether these campaign contributions influenced his support of MTM,” said Melendez. “He needs to come clean about whether any other MTM employees are funding his campaign or the House Republican Caucus.”

State records show that Powell received $500 in campaign contributions from the Griswolds in October of 2004.  Powell then defended the company’s service during the 2005 and 2006 legislative sessions.

“Rep. Powell needs to return these contributions,” Melendez said. “The donor is a known fraudulent company that, according to Missouri’s Republican Governor, ‘bilked’ taxpayers.”

Just last month, Stark County Ohio canceled its contract with MTM after only 12 days, which included numerous no-show and late rides. The Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare also terminated their contract with MTM after only 3 weeks after receiving numerous complaints.

To hear Rep. Powell’s comments on MTM and DHS in committee:

1) Click on http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/audio/archivescomm.asp?comm=13&ls_year=84

2) Scroll down to the April 11, 2006 Health Policy Finance hearing (for H.F. 3697)

3) Move to about 1 hour 25 minutes into the audio file.  Rep. Powell’s comments begin at 1:28:32.