I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
An emergency meeting has been scheduled next week to discuss the status of the state’s contract with a firm that took over management of the state’s behavioral health care system July 1.
Last week the Collaborative announced that OptumHealth New Mexico, faced a fine of more than $1.4 million and a potential loss of the state’s four-year $1 billion contract for not paying nonprofits and other companies millions of dollars for services already completed with the mentally ill and those struggling with substance abuse.
The trouble appears to be with OptumHealth’s electronic claims management system, which was touted as a way to promptly pay nonprofits and others working with those in need of behavioral health care.
But “thousands of provider claims, amounting to millions of dollars, have gone unpaid,” placing many providers under financial strain, and in some cases, “financial crisis,” according to a news release the state sent out last week.
The meeting is scheduled in room 321 at the state Capitol from 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, according to a press release sent out Wednesday by the state’s Behavioral Health Collaborative.
The public is welcome.
The Collaborative hired Optum earlier this year to manage the state’s services to the mentally ill and those struggling with substance abuse.
