The company that provides transportation to MaineCare clients is assuring state lawmakers that it emerged from bankruptcy in a strong financial position weeks after some legislators called on the state to drop its contract with Modivcare.
Colorado-based Modivcare is one of three organizations that coordinates transportation for lower-income and disabled Mainers to doctor's offices and other appointments. The company was poised to offers those services statewide after winning a 10-year, estimated $750 million contract with the state until two Maine-based ride providers filed lawsuits, putting the expansion on hold.
And then the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in August as it struggled with $1.4 billion in debt. Last month, more than 100 state lawmakers raised concerns about the long-term financial stability of Modivcare and urged the Maine Department of Health and Human Services to re-bid the contract.
But on Wednesday, Modivcare officials told lawmakers that the company successfully restructured and emerged from bankruptcy on Dec. 29 with no disruption of services or to payments to its network of sub-contracted drivers.
"I think this is very clearly a case of promises made, promises kept — and actually, in most cases, our operating metrics improved during the fall and the winter," Daniel Silvers, chairman of the board at Modivcare, told members of the Legislature's Health and Human Services Committee.
"So we are sitting here today with an incredibly strong financial position and ability to delivery continued, uninterrupted service to fulfill our daily mission of getting a vulnerable population of Mainers to their appointments on time and safely," Silvers said. "And we are committed to doing that going forward."
In a memo provided to lawmakers, DHHS officials said that Modivcare's complaint rate of 0.07% is well below the state's benchmark for nonemergency transport providers of no more than 1%. Additionally, DHHS officials noted that Modivcare provides more rides than any other broker across a larger swath of the state.
"By sheer volume of activity, Modivcare will have the highest raw number of complaints but their rate of complaints is very low relative to the number of rides provided," DHHS Commissioner Sara Gagne-Holmes wrote to the committee.
But lawmakers remain skeptical of those figures, however, and suggested that many frustrated clients either opt not to file complaints or can't figure out who to call.
Rep. Michele Meyer, an Eliot Democrat who co-chairs the committee, pointed out that lawmakers have heard numerous complaints from clients about missed rides, late rides or other situations that are "troubling, dangerous and disturbing." Meyer said not all of those complaints are about Modivcare but she added that, regardless of the operator, she and other lawmakers are concerned that those complaints are not being heard.
"One of the concerns that we've shared here is that members simply don't know where to call, they don't know how to get in touch," Meyer said. "And simplifying that process and perhaps having some oversight over it ... might serve to allay some of our concerns that Mainers are simply confused about where to make a complaint."
In response, Modivcare leaders pledged to make sure clients and lawmakers receive a "toolkit" and other guidance on how to file complaints about missed or late rides or other problems.
In her memo to the committee, Gagne-Holmes also wrote that re-bidding the contract would only add to the confusion among clients unsure about which company manages rides, would further delay the process and take staff away from managing the program without necessarily leading to a different outcome.
Penquis Community Action Agency, which already provides rides to MaineCare clients in parts of the state, sued to block the contract to Modivcare and was eventually joined by another provider, Waldo Community Action Partners. That process is still playing out in the courts.
