Bipartisan problem demands bipartisan solution

Editorial by Winston-Salem Journal, August 31, 2013.

The General Assembly should put aside partisan concerns and investigate what is happening at the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services.

Both Sen. Martin Nesbitt, D-Buncombe, and Rep. Larry Hall, D-Durham, the Democratic leaders of their respective chambers, have called for hearings on DHHS issues.

Those calls carry an obvious partisan purpose. DHHS is at the center of this summer’s latest political kerfuffle -- pay raises provided to two 24-year-old former Republican campaign aides. Democrats hope to rough up Republicans a bit more on the topic.

But there is a bigger issue at DHHS, and this is a bipartisan problem. The department has been unable to get a new computer system running properly and that is leading to delayed and failed payments of Medicaid bills.

Legislative Republicans have no stake in that mess. They didn’t create it, but it is their job, in the system of checks and balances, to keep an eye on the people who did. This is an executive branch problem, one that has occurred under two governors, one from each party.

When medical-care providers aren’t being paid for Medicaid services, the entire health-care system suffers. Doctors, clinics and hospitals have employees and bills to pay. They often get lower fees for Medicaid services, in the first place, and now they are having to wait extra long times to get their money.

Nesbitt says the delays are threatening the solvency of some small practices.

These problems have dragged on for years. The state has spent hundreds of millions of dollars trying to develop a new payment system and that system’s implementation was delayed numerous times. What should have been up and running years ago still isn’t working properly.

If the hearings are held, Democrats will get a few pokes in on the salary questions. But the bigger news coming out of such hearings would certainly involve the reimbursement system.

Legislative leaders have oversight responsibility on this matter. They should summon DHHS leaders to their building, ask tough questions and demand that the system be fixed.