Virginia Regulatory Town Hall
Agency
Department of Medical Assistance Services
 
Board
Board of Medical Assistance Services
 
chapter
Standards Established and Methods Used to Assure High Quality Care [12 VAC 30 ‑ 60]
Action Electronic Visit Verification
Stage Proposed
Comment Period Ended on 3/21/2020
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2/1/20  6:30 am
Commenter: Debra Gwathmey, EOR

EVV-INADEQUATE PROGRAMMING
 

EVV-another governmental NIGHTMARE!  The system is flawed and poorly put together.  I have used 4 different browsers and had problems with them all.  You login and the screen sits blank/white.  This happened repeatedly.  I was advised by CDVA to utilize Mozilla, which I hate.  I downloaded it to get the payroll completed, it worked a couple of cycles, now having the same issue with Mozilla.  It has been a roller coaster of hell!  I registered the account as EOR, the system did not save my brother as consumer/recipient of services, nor either of the caregivers/providers.  That took multiple calls, when no one was answering the phones.  Multiple complaints were filed by email, which most concerns were not addressed.  If you can't provide consumers with a browser friendly program - it should not be utilized!  This is '2020!  Having said that, when finally corrected, caregivers who are not computer saavy, nor adequately trained struggled to learn the system.  When an error is made, it is not easy to fix, to which that burden usually falls back on me as EOR.  That brings me to the fact that I have a full time job.  All the time, energy, stress, and effort to get this system implemented, while having problems still today, has paid me nothing.  In fact, it has taken time away from my full time job.  Now any other entity that pulled this would have the labor board investigating!!!  If a caregiver has to log in to register missed time - the drop down list is extremely limited.  Why can't they type in their own reason for why they were not able to log the time by the provided methods.  So, in order to get paid, they must chose from a drop down list that may not apply.  But if you want to get paid, you must pick one, all by repeatedly being reminded of "fraud"!!!  I can only assume due to system errors, there have been unexplainable and sporadic payment cycles.  The most exciting feature is where they try to fit all DD consumers into one box.  For example, my brother has a caregiver for respite.  He is allotted certain hours.  So if that caregiver is kind enough to take him out of town for the weekend, logging in ONLY the hours assigned - yet has him out of town, how the heck is he supposed to sign in/out from home.  WAIT FOR IT!!!  There is NO option on any list for that!!!!  POORLY thought out system.  NOW, let's get to the invasion of privacy!!!  EVV says they are not monitoring location - well then they shouldn't need access to phone locations, NOR designate them.  I did have a caregiver that could meet me at a Doctor's office, if I had to leave, and would sit with my brother - that is NO MORE!  How about when you call in - the phone system option - and the system does not recognize your number, or cuts you off - there's a whole list with that as well.  Additional burden on those of us who care enough to take care of our DD members, without justified compensation of any sort.  Then there are the caregivers!  One of my caregivers stated, it's getting so it's not worth it anymore!!  With what is paid to these folks - it's no wonder good help is hard to find, then when you do...let's burden the living hell out of them, so they don't want to work!!!  Talking about policing - what about those on welfare/food stamps?  What's in place to monitor them?  NOTHING!  But an individual who is DD, will not recover, is not a result of a choice they made, yet need to be monitored.  THAT IS our government trying to find reasons to not provide services to our mentally handicapped!!!  That IS ALL that is!!  We need to challenge this invasion into our lives, the one size fits all mentality which restricts what our needs are, and the right down, IMPROPER process utilized by our state and federal government!  It's boarder line Communism at it's finest!!  If this control is implemented - it should be across the board monitoring on all government payouts..and until you can do that, it is unacceptable to make the DD guinea pigs!!!

CommentID: 78976