By Tessa Roy, WPRO News
After over 1,300 complaints of elderly and disabled patients being left in the cold waiting for their rides, the state’s medical transportation vendor was hit with a $1 million penalty and a renegotiated contract.
According to the Executive Office of Health and Human Services (EOHHS), the renegotiated contract lifts the cap on how much the state can fine MTM when it performs poorly, and includes a “10% quality withhold of MTM’s monthly payment that will only be released to MTM upon achieving measurable performance goals.”
State officials and MTM’s President and CEO Alaina Macia faced questions from the House Oversight Committee on Thursday night. Both said MTM’s progress is on the right track, but improvement is still needed.
“I can say that the system is stable. The number of missed trips and complaints have decreased dramatically, and your constituents have shorter handle times,” Macia said. She also apologized for the issues.
Macia laid out plans for improvement, including hiring more staff and putting GPS tracking in vehicles by April 1st. She said MTM wants consistent feedback, even complaints, as that’s the best way to know what’s going wrong.
“I expect that within… less than a month, that this service is very, very acceptable, if not performing well,” she said.
