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DHHS presents Government Evaluation Act report; committee presses on PTP, NEMT complaints and contract payments
Summary
Department of Health and Human Services leaders presented the agency’s Government Evaluation Act report, highlighting organizational structure, emerging issues (workforce, IT modernization, federal policy changes) and planned reforms; lawmakers asked for follow-up on PTP roles, nonemergency medical transportation complaint tracking and invoice payment timeliness.
Department of Health and Human Services Commissioner Sarah Gagne Holmes and leadership presented DHHS’s Government Evaluation Act (GEA) report and answered committee questions on PTP, nonemergency medical transportation (NEMT), payment timeliness and preparedness.
The report gives an overview of the department’s eight offices and two state psychiatric hospitals, and flagged workforce shortages, federal-policy volatility (including federal premium tax credit and Medicaid changes), and technology needs as priority challenges. The department highlighted initiatives such as the lifespan waiver, the QUEST staffing initiative, efforts to regain CMS certification at state hospitals and the state-based marketplace coverme.gov.
On committee questions: DHHS officials reiterated they do not 'own' the PTP court process but participate in it; they endorsed committee amendments earlier in the session to clarify eligible filers for the PTP fund. On NEMT, the department said it has improved coordination with brokers and local transporters, will report more complaint data publicly and urged constituents to send complaints directly to DHHS so they can be tracked. On late payments and contracting, DHHS said it has added limited-period positions and contractors, improved encumbrance timing (moving some contracts off a July 1 bottleneck) and is tracking invoices paid within 30 and 45 days (noting recent improvements).
Commissioner Gagne Holmes said the department is preparing significant outreach and operational work to mitigate expected federal changes that could affect coverage, noting the department’s analysis that roughly 33,000 individuals may be affected by proposed federal eligibility/work rules. Committee members pressed DHHS for concrete tracking metrics and promised follow-up hearings on selected topics.
