Stitt draws fire for changes
Board shake-up after they reject his interests
Gov. Kevin Stitt is coming under fire for removing two members of the Oklahoma Health Care Authority board shortly after a majority of its members voted against his interests on Medicaid managed care.
A former president of the Oklahoma State Medical Association criticized Stitt for removing the only physicians from the ninemember board for the Health Care Authority, the state agency that oversees Medicaid.
Dr. George Monks, the immediate past president of the medical group, accused Stitt of playing politics and attempting to stifle dissent within his administration.
“The Health Care Authority’s job is to oversee more than $2 billion taxpayer dollars and serve Oklahoma’s most vulnerable citizens, not rubber-stamp a governor’s political agenda,” he said in a statement. “Today, the governor demonstrated the politics are vastly more important than the health of Oklahomans as he eliminated two of the three female members and the only physicians from the OHCA Board of Directors. They were the only members who have the experience and knowledge needed to lead this agency that is so essential in the delivery of healthcare to those in need.”
The Oklahoma Osteopathic Association, Oklahoma Dental Association and Oklahoma State Society of the American College of Osteopathic Physicians also criticized the governor’s actions in a Tuesday letter that expressed concerns about managed care and urged transparency at the Health Care Authority.
Stitt, who gets five appointments to the board, removed Dr. Laura Shamblin, an Oklahoma City pediatrician, and Dr. Jean Hausheer, a Lawton ophthalmologist. He appointed the physicians to the board in 2019, right after he gained additional hiring and firing power at five major state agencies, including the Health Care Authority.
In a statement, Shamblin said she was honored to serve on the board.
“I am proud of the efforts of the Board, and I acted in good faith and with due diligence,” she said.
The removals came about a week after the board voted 7-1 to table emergency rules that could have opened the door for the agency to try again to implement third-party managed care, in which the agency would outsource care management for most Medicaid recipients to private insurance companies.
Since last year, Stitt has pushed for the agency to contract with private companies to manage care for most Medicaid recipients in the hopes of cutting program costs and improving health care for some of the state’s poorest residents. From the beginning, Stitt faced opposition from many within the health care community and some state lawmakers.
Stitt’s office did not respond to questions about why the two doctors were removed from the board. In a statement, Stitt spokeswoman Carly Atchison said the governor thanks Shamblin and Hausheer for their service.
“Governor Stitt welcomes Susan Dell’Osso and Gino DeMarco to the board to help make Oklahoma a top ten state for health outcomes,” she said. “Susan brings a wealth of experience in leadership as the former Chief Innovation Officer for Integris Health, numerous experiences across the state’s different health systems, and a passion for serving Oklahoma communities. Gino DeMarco has voluntarily left retirement to once again serve the state, bringing a unique entrepreneurial talent for innovation, growth, and development including his years as a senior executive at a Medicaid consulting and software company.”
Stitt chose DeMarco, a former deputy director for the Oklahoma Tourism and Recreation Department, to serve as the state’s “PPE czar“at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. He previously worked as an executive in the oil and gas industry.
Dell’Osso is the associate director of a digital marketing company, according to her LinkedIn page.
State law does not require Stitt or legislative leaders to appoint board members that are doctors or work in health care.
At the Health Care Authority’s special board meeting Aug. 26, agency CEO Kevin Corbett said emergency rules pertaining to third-party managed care would keep the agency in compliance with a new law, Senate Bill 131, that took effect Sept. 1.
Voting on the rules was not indicative of whether the agency would move forward with managed care. Any decision on that would be made in conjunction with the governor, legislators and stakeholders, he said.
“There has been no decision made on whether this agency will again pursue third-party managed care,” Corbett said.
However, after consulting with the state lawmakers who authored SB 131, Hausheer led the board in tabling the emergency rules. Shamblin voted in favor of tabling the rules.
Sen. Greg McCortney, R-Ada, and Rep. Marcus McEntire, R-Duncan, authored SB 131, which sought to add legislative oversight and a legal framework to what was then an ongoing effort by Stitt and the Health Care Authority to overhaul the state’s Medicaid program through managed care.
After the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled the agency didn’t have the authority to implement managed care, SB 131 became null and void, the two lawmakers have said.
“The key point being that Senate Bill 131 was based on the assumption that we, as an agency, have the powers to proceed forward with MCOs (managed care organizations) and we do not have that authority as per the Supreme Court ruling,” Hausheer said at the Aug. 26 meeting.
At the time, legal counsel for the agency warned that a vote to table the rules could be a violation of the state’s Open Meeting Act because they were presented as an action item that required a vote to either adopt or deny the rules.
House Speaker Charles McCall, RAtoka, and Senate Pro Tem Greg Treat, R-Oklahoma City, each get to make two appointments to the Health Care Authority board.
“The Health Care Authority’s job is to oversee more than $2 billion taxpayer dollars and serve Oklahoma’s most vulnerable citizens, not rubber-stamp a governor’s political agenda. Today, the governor demonstrated the politics are vastly more important than the health of Oklahomans as he eliminated two of the three female members and the only physicians from the OHCA Board of Directors.” Dr. George Monks past president of the Oklahoma State Medical Association