State of Michigan Continues Total Health Care Medicaid Contracts

DETROIT, July 16 /PRNewswire/ -- Total Health Care, Inc. (THC) officials welcomed the news Friday that the State of Michigan will renew the HMO’s Medicaid contracts in Wayne and Macomb counties.

News of the decision came in a letter from Sean L. Carlson, Director of Acquisition Services for the State Department of Management and Budget. The action reversed a decision made in late June not to renew any of Total Health Care’s Medicaid contracts, a decision that could have effectively put the HMO out of business.

The news assures Total Health Care will continue as the only Detroit-based HMO serving Medicaid recipients.

“We are pleased and grateful that after three decades of dedication to the community, we will continue to be able to serve Wayne and Macomb Counties,” said Board Chair Francis Lynch. “While we are disappointed that we were not awarded a contract for Oakland and Genesee counties, Wayne and Macomb represent about 85 percent of our base.”

Total Health Care Executive Director Lyle Algate said not being allowed to continue serving Oakland and Genesee counties “will create some financial pressures but we are confident we can work through this together. We particularly regret the loss of partnerships we have established in those counties over years of working together with health care providers and our members.”

Carlson’s letter said he had given “serious weight and consideration” to a series of factors in deciding to award contracts to Total Health Care for Wayne and Macomb counties. Those factors were:

1. THC is the second oldest health maintenance organization and has been serving Michigan’s Medicaid managed care program for more than 25 years. 2. THC is headquartered in Detroit and currently is the only Detroit-based Medicaid health plan. 3. THC employs 55 individuals. 4. THC is financially solvent and has made provider payments while other HMOs have failed to meet financial solvency requirements. 5. THC’s quality service score showed improvement over recent years. 6. Positive working relationships with Detroit Medical Center -- the state’s single largest Medicaid provider.

Algate said Total Health Care was deeply grateful for a groundswell of support that came from community leaders in Detroit and the rest of southeast Michigan.

“On behalf of our employees and our members, I want to thank our supporters who were there to back us up and fought to assure we can continue to serve most of our members,” he said. “Mayor Kilpatrick, the Detroit City Council, Congresswoman Carolyn Cheeks-Kilpatrick, members of Detroit’s legislative delegation, health system executives and others from the community all rallied to our side.”

“This is just an overall great relief for us,” said Lynch. “We always believed that, as a successful locally based plan that we can serve our members more personally, more effectively and more quickly than larger plans located in places like Maryland, Minnesota or California.”

Total Health Care, Inc., a Michigan licensed and federally qualified managed care organization, was founded and incorporated as a non-profit corporation in 1973 and is the second oldest HMO in Michigan. Total Health Care serves 58,000 members, including 48,000 Medicaid recipients, and offers a comprehensive health care delivery network that includes over 250 health care centers and more than 1,000 primary care and specialist physicians in the counties of Wayne, Oakland, Macomb and Genesee.

Total Health Care holds full accreditation status with two nationally recognized accrediting organizations, the Joint Commission for Accreditation of Health Care Organizations (JCAHO) and the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care (AAAHC). In 2003, Total Health Care, at the direction of the State Department of Community Health, underwent a lengthy and costly accreditation evaluation by the Joint Commission. The result was it awarded Total Health Care its highest level of accreditation -- a full three-year accreditation.

Total Health Care, Inc.

CONTACT: Bob Berg of Berg Muirhead and Associates, +1-313-872-2202, forTotal Health Care, Inc.