Re: GA medicaid

[Guest guest]

>,what are the steps to getting GA medicaid to pay for HBOT ?

>Also,where is the service offered in GA ? Thanks,

>

>

,

The state of Georgia has appealed our case to the state Court of Appeals so

Georgia Medicaid has yet to reimburse Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy for a

brain-injured child--despite the fact that HBOT has been proven to aid in

the recovery of brain-injury and can save the state of Georgia hundreds and

hundreds of millions of dollars annually.

It's incredible to me that the state fights this even after the stories

published in the Atlanta Journal and Constitution about the developmentally

disabled adults who died from neglect at the hands of the state--all of

which might have been prevented if these disabled people had gotten some

extra oxygen.

It is tragic now, but the future will be bright for our children and loved

ones as long as we parents and caregivers press on with the truth.

Whatever you do, do not let the stupidity of the state discourage you. On

the contrary, be encouraged. If you'll notice I've " cc:'d " this note to

every Georgia state legislator with an email address, the staff of the

Governor's council on developmental disabilities, and every state employee

I could find who's part of the Mental Health and Mental Retardation section

of the state Department of Human Resources.

I think it's time for everybody to realize just how much the Georgia

Department of Community Health does not serve the health of our community.

I believe the primary reason why the state has appealed Jimmy's case is

because there are a lot of people at the state with a whole lot of egg on

their faces--from Governor Roy on down.

That's right, from the governor on down.

After three denials, in January, 2000 we requested a hearing before an

Administrative Law Judge (ALJ). Still trying to avoid a legal proceeding, I

contacted the governor's office asking for help but got just the opposite.

The next thing I knew our case was taken out of the legal department of

Georgia Medicaid and given to the state attorney general's office. The

state attorney general in turn hired a $300/hour private attorney to keep

Jimmy away from a $150/hour treatment that has been proven to reverse his

brain-injury.

The state has paid this private attorney over $300,000.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Status: U

Date: Fri, 11 May 2001 06:44:38 -0400

From: " Jim Guay " <Guayjr@...>

<dfreels@...>

Subject: Information Request

Mime-Version: 1.0

Mr. Freels,

According to information that I have Mr. Mark D. Oldenburg received his

compensation from the Department of Law from Per Diem, Fees and Expenses.

Page 170 of the Per Diem and Fees Compilation report for Year Ended June

30, 2000, issued by our department reflects that a Mark D Oldenburg

received $158,037.04 in Fees and $15,516.38 in Expenses.

If you would like to receive a copy of this report, please contact our

receptionist at (404) 656-2180 between the hours of 8:00 AM and 4:30 PM

Monday - Friday, and we will mail a copy to you.

R. Guay CPA, CISA

Director

Information Systems Audit and Assurance Services Division

(404) 651-8754

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Status: U

X-Server-Uuid: 9fd75766-bced-49df-b1d8-f8c854a94ea9

Date: Fri, 12 Oct 2001 10:35:59 -0400

From: " Bob " <r@...>

dfreels@...

cc: " Joe Wynn " <Wynnjd@...>

Subject: Publlic Records related to Compensation of Mark D. Oldenburg,

as of June 30, 2001

MIME-Version: 1.0

X-WSS-ID: 17D8205513236-01-01

Content-Type: text/html

Content-Description: HTML

Mr. Freels, According to information that I have Mr. Mark D.

Oldenburg received his

compensation from the Department of Law from Per Diem, Fees and Expenses.

A cursory review of the ledger balances reflects that Mark D Oldenburg

received $144,024.50 in Fees and $8,622.15 in Expenses, between July1 2000

and June 30, 2001. The report " Compilation of Salaries, Travel and Per

Diem and Fees " will be released in December, If you would like to receive

a copy of this report, please contact our receptionist at (404) 656-2180

between the hours of 8:00 AM and 4:30 PM Monday - Friday, and we will mail

a copy to you. Bob , CPA, CGFM Senior Auditor

Professional Practices Division

(404) 657-7968

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Even though we requested a hearing in January, 2000, the hearing didn't

occur until July 6, 2000. We brought in an expert witness who probably

knows more about treating brain-injury with Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy than

anybody else in the world. His name is Dr. Harch, and he has literally

written the chapters on this for the latest edition (1999) of The Textbook

of Hyperbaric Medicine. It's available for download at

medicaid/files/HBOT%20for%20brain-injury.PD

F . Dr. Harch's website is http://www.hyperbarics.org

After Dr. Harch testified, the state somehow couldn't resume the hearing

until September 29, 2000--nearly four months later. Not only that, the

state had also switched judges on us. The second judge did not read the

transcript from the first hearing date, so Dr. Harch's testimony--and

world-reknown expertise--was ignored.

We lost before the ALJ. The decision was handed down just before Christmas

Day on December 21, 2000.

We appealed to Dekalb Superior Court, and oral arguments were heard in

July, 2001. The decision came on October 11, 2001. The judge overturned the

ALJ decision and found the state of Georgia was not in compliance with the

federal Medicaid law for children as found in 42 USC § 1396d®(5).

The state of Georgia has been ignoring the law for 12 years at the expense

of the hearts and minds and wallets of every family all across this state.

In addition to reversing the ALJ decision, the Appeal judge also overturned

the " findings of fact " by the ALJ. I'm not an attorney, but I've had

several explain this to me. Overturning the findings of fact only happens

in less than 1% of all cases so this is incredibly significant for you and

every other Georgia family.

By overturning the findings of fact, what that means is that what Mom and

Dad and Dr. Harch are saying about Jimmy's brain-injury and subsequent

recovery via hyperbaric oxygen is correct and what the 3 or 4 or 5 or 6

pediatric neurologists the state consulted with were wrong.

This is profound. It's the pediatric neurologists who hold all the

credentials of expertise and they have been proven wrong by the

evidence--the indisputable scientific evidence of Jimmy's before/after

SPECT-scans.

His SPECT-scans reveal brain tissue that wasn't functioning before is now

functioning--and that his brain blood flow has increased by 25.4%--which is

an increase of 2540% over the normal rate of increase (1%) in brain blood

flow.

A couple of weeks ago I learned that the doctor who headed the review of

our request was an orthopedic surgeon. Most kids like Jimmy go under the

knife 10 or 12 times by early adulthood. If HBOT can fix the problem,

there's no need for an orthopedic surgeon.

Conflict of interest?

You bet.

To make matters even worse the orthopedic surgeon who conducted the review

was Dr. Cohen, husband of Dianne Harnell-Cohen--who's the deputy

chief of staff for Governor . Needless to say, I'm not only

disgusted, I'm disappointed.

You see, when I called the governor's office asking if we could avoid a

legal proceeding and then our case was then taken out of the Georgia

Medicaid legal department and given to the state attorney general--the

person I was speaking with that morning was Dianne Harnell-Cohen.

As sad and as disappointing as this is, God has a plan and God knows what

the truth is and the truth is on our side and not on the side of those who

seek to maintain the status quo.

" If God is for us, who can be against us? " [Rom. 8:31]

So be encouraged.

This is what I would do if I were you. If you don't yet have a copy of the

Medicaid law for children and how it applies to HBOT, download it now from

medicaid/files/Medicaid_law_children.PDF .

Next download a copy of Jimmy's court decision from

medicaid/files/HBOT_Georgia_Court_Order.PDF

Next go to medicaid/files/ and go

through all 30-something documents and see if there is something else you

think might be helpful. There's another chapter from The Textbook of

Hyperbaric Medicine on using HBOT for stroke. There's a paper on

resuscitating asphyxiated newborns with HBOT. There's all kinds of

documentation on 8 or 9 other states that are reimbursing HBOT for

brain-injury.

There's an excellent paper by the CDC that brain-injured children cost

society over $503,000 per child/per year and $2.4 BILLION per child/per

lifetime. Download it at

medicaid/files/CDC%27s%20cost%20of%20cp%20%

28p.18%29.PDF or you can find it on the internet at

http://www.cdc.gov/epo/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00038946.htm .

Go to your county Medicaid office and demand this for your child. Encourage

other Georgia parents to do the same. Keep banging on the door.

" If God is for us, who can be against us? " [Rom. 8:31]

Contact your state representative, state senator, and even Governor

office. Ask for Dianne. No kidding, ask for Dianne. Remember how many times

we are supposed to forgive: 7 x 70.

Maybe Dianne's changed her mind about hyperbaric oxygen.

If she hasn't yet, she will.

There are hyperbaric chambers where your child can get treatment in

Augusta, Atlanta, Marietta, Gainesville, and a few other places I don't

remember right now. Where do you live?

Do stay in touch. Use this list to share what your experiences are and what

you've learned. Encourage other Georgia parents to do the same.

Together we can make a difference.

Separately we may never make a difference.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

" I have sworn upon the altar of God, eternal hostility against every form

of tyranny over the mind of man. " -- Jefferson, probably an early

advocate of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy.

----------------------------

Freels

2948 Windfield Circle

Tucker, GA 30084-6714

USA

770/491-6776 (phone and fax)

509/275-1618 (efax, sends fax as email attachment)

mailto:dfreels@...

mailto:medicaid-subscribe

mailto:HBOTnow-subscribe