The Division of Workers’ Compensation has invited interested members of the public to a meeting May 7 to discuss the most efficient means of communication with Maximus Federal Services, the current independent medical and bill review organization. The meeting will be from 10 a.m. to noon in the auditorium of the Elihu Harris Building, 1515 Clay Street in Oakland
Principals from Maximus Federal Services will present an overview of how the requests for independent medical reviews (IMRs) and independent bill reviews (IBRs) are processed.
Workers’ compensation carriers and third party administrators are encouraged to join in this discussion regarding secure methods of transmitting documents and the best ways to handle billing and other communications issues.
Maximus Inc., trademarked as MAXIMUS, is an American for-profit privatizing company that provides business process services to government health and human services agencies in the United States, Australia, Canada, Saudi Arabia, and the United Kingdom. MAXIMUS focuses on administering government-sponsored programs, such as Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, health care reform, welfare-to-work, Medicare, child support enforcement, and other government programs. The company is based in Reston, Virginia, has 8,657 employees, and reported annual revenue of $1.05 billion in fiscal year 2012.
Over its nearly 40 year history it has not been without criticism. In October 2010, The Los Angeles Times reported that 146 medical workers, including doctors, nurses and pharmacists were allowed to keep working despite failing drug tests. MAXIMUS was awarded a $2.5 Million a year contract to run California’s confidential “diversion programs”. MAXIMUS contracted the work out to a subcontractor who in turn subcontracted the work to another company. The drug testing company was using the wrong standard of drug test from December 2009 to August 2010, resulting in medical workers who tested positive for drugs to continue working.
In October 2000 six state lawmakers in Wisconsin called for the termination of MAXIMUS’ W-2 contract, saying the firm has “broken faith with the state and poor people the agency serves in Milwaukee County.”
In November 1997, The Hartford Courant reported that MAXIMUS “gets minimal results” when it was hired by the State of Connecticut to manage a child care program for recipients of welfare. According to the Record-Journal, MAXIMUS “hired too few people, installed an inadequate phone system and fell weeks or months behind in making payments to day care providers.