The “elect†has now been removed from Gov. Beverly Perdue’s job title, and the office furniture has been rearranged. The governor hauled her own desk into her new office the other day and situated it by a window. Let’s hope this arrangement affords her a better view of the state than her predecessor’s.
Over the past five months, in a series called Breakdown, we’ve reported on the collapse of our state’s mental health care system and its impact here in Orange County. We awaited Gov. Perdue’s selection of a new secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services with both apprehension and hope. Her choice of Lanier Cansler leaves us with both.
Cansler, a CPA, is a former Republican state legislator from Buncombe County and a former deputy secretary of the department he will now head.
As a legislator, he either co-chaired or served on several committees related to health and human services, was named 1998 Outstanding Legislator by the North Carolina Mental Health Association and was given the 1999 State Representative Leadership Award by the North Carolina Council of Community Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities, and Substance Abuse Programs.
But as deputy secretary of the DHHS from 2001 to 2005, Cansler helped preside over mental health care reform measures that have largely led us into the disastrous state of affairs with which we’re now confronted.
Moreover, as a partner in Cansler Fuquay Solutions, Cansler most recently represented Computer Sciences Corp., which last month won a $265 million contract to create and then operate a Medicaid billing system for the state. He resigned his position upon being named to the DHHS post. He also has worked as a lobbyist for ValueOptions, the company hired by the state to review and process all Medicaid claims and as a lobbyist for The Arc of North Carolina, a service provider for individuals with intellectual or developmental disabilities.
Mental health care advocates from across the state were split in their reaction to the selection of Cansler. Some say he’s a very capable man who’s genuinely concerned about mental health care issues and can help lead the department out of its morass.
Many others, however, are legitimately concerned about Cansler’s connections to those who provide services and support to the state. They question why, at a time in which charting a new course in the provisioning of these services is absolutely critical, Perdue would perpetuate the revolving-door routine by selecting a lobbyist.
The most fundamental truth we’ve learned in researching and reporting mental health care reform in North Carolina is that in order to create an effective system, all concerned voices must be heard. Too often, mental health care professionals – the psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers and others who directly interact with those coping with mental illness – have been shut out of the decision-making process.
And, to a greater extent still, the consumers of mental health care services and their families have been ignored.
In order to win trust and respect, Lanier Cansler must prove from the get-go that he’s receptive to the perspectives of all parties involved.
To read the stories in The Citizen’s seven-part mental health care series, go to www.carrborocitizen.com/main/breakdown
WHAT HAS CANSLER DONE W/ HIS MEDICAID ORIENTED COMPANIES?
Sunday, January 11, 2009
How has Cansler created ‘safe harbor’ or invisibility re: his Medicaid oriented companies? : mental health providers want to know
Cansler was in his job as Deputy Secretary of NC DHHS, just under Carmen Hooker Odom (remember her) for 4-5 years, not the previously stated two years, according to this report:
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http://projects.newsobserver.com/tags/lanier_cansler
“Cansler is a former DHHS deputy secretary who left his state job in 2005 after four years.”
Why is this important? Because it means he was fully invested about the evisceration of NC mental health. He didn’t just hang out for a couple of years and then move into the private sphere.
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From the Raleigh News Observer: (Note: Cansler, just appointed by Perdue as NC Secretary of DHHS, ‘was’ a lobbyist for the Virginia based Computer Sciences Corp):
http://projects.newsobserver.com/tags/computer_sciences_corp_electronic_data_systems
State awards $265m service contract
“The state has awarded one of its biggest service contracts to Computer Sciences Corp., a Virginia-based company that bid $265.2 million to build and operate a computer system to pay Medicaid claims.
The state selected CSC last month over Electronic Data Systems, a Texas company that has had the job since 1977. EDS bid $287.3 million for the work. Hiring a company to build and run a new Medicaid bill-paying system has been a long and contentious process. This is the second time in about four years that the state has tried to find a company to manage its Medicaid claims.”
Why is this important?
1. EDS has done a really good job re: reimbursements and I am here to state that as re: being a private provider who interfaces with them. Their computer software, specifically, https://webclaims.ncmedicaid.com/ncecs/, works very efficiently. Its easy to navigate and I am paid efficiently. But then, the providers are never asked about what they would like to have happen—–even in the face of a collapsing mental health care reform fiasco.
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Also from the Raleigh News Observer, re: Cansler’s appointment:
http://projects.newsobserver.com/tags/lanier_cansler
“He started a consulting and lobbying firm, Cansler Fuquay Solutions, and developed a client list that includes work for companies that do business with DHHS.”
Why is this important?
1. Who is on the client list?
2. How has he created ‘safe harbor’, which is a Medicare derived term meant to outline how a public official has ‘parked’ his or her private interests? This is very much related to conflict of interest. Remember: we all understand that there was something nefarious about how Dick Cheney found ‘safe harbor’ as he kicked business to Halliburton. He can retire to Wyoming, undoubtedly, a billionaire.
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What is Cansler’s CURRENT (& you might better take into account his relationship last week since he seems to have done some quick ‘which cup is the button under’ switching around very recently) status in terms of the board/ as a stockholder/ as having created legal invisibility & safe harbor re:
1. Fuqua Cansler Enterprises
2. Computer Sciences Corporation
3. the client list associated w/ Fuqua Cansler Enterprises.
posted by Marsha V. Hammond, PhD: NC Mental Health Reform blogspot: http://madame-defarge.blogspot.com/