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Appeals panel drops state from human services lawsuit Tuesday, Apr 18, 2006 By Rob Moritz Arkansas News Bureau LITTLE ROCK - A federal appeals court Monday dismissed the state from a lawsuit by parents of developmentally disabled children who claimed they received less Medicaid assistance because of state budget cuts in 2001. A three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis ruled that the state Department of Human Services - later merged with the Health Department to form the state Department of Health and Human Services - was immune from civil action under the 11th Amendment as a branch of state government. The appeals panel said claims against directors in their official capacity were not barred. The lawsuit followed DHS' announcement in the fall of 2001 that it would no longer pay for daycare and therapy under the Child Health Management Services program because they already were provided by Head Start and the Arkansas Better Chance programs, which the agency said were more cost efficient. DHS officials estimated eliminating the services would save Medicaid about $10.6 million. The Huckabee administration announced $142 million in recession-related budget cuts in October 2001. DHS absorbed about $33 million of the cuts, including $12 million from Medicaid. The lawsuit, filed by parents along with companies that provided the services, named as defendants were the department and some of its managers, including then-DHS Director Kurt Knickrehm, then-Medicaid Director Ray Hanley and Roy Jeffus, then the interim director of the division of medical services. Knickrehm and Hanley have since left the department, and Jeffus is now director of medical services. |
