Logistics Health officials decided it was time to fight back last week.
The La Crosse-based health management company had been under fire for allegedly dragging its feet in providing health services to responders who helped in New York after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorists’ attack.
LHI was awarded an $11 million federal contract in June to provide medical care and health monitoring services. The company has been able to contact 3,019 of the 4,200 responders potentially eligible for services, company officials said in media reports. They said LHI tries each responder three times by telephone, and then sends follow-up mailings.
There are 2,844 responders actively participating in the program and 175 have declined to participate. Critics in a Wisconsin State Journal story, which also ran in the Lee-owned La Crosse Tribune, complained about a rocky transition of the program to LHI management and delays in providing services.
At first, LHI did not respond, citing a clause in the federal contract that reportedly prohibits comments to the media. But, last week, LHI Chairman and CEO Don Weber said, “I’m sick of being punched around and not being able to come back and say, ‘wait a minute.’ Working with NIOSH (National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health) has been very difficult. It’s time we’re taking a stand.”
Weber and LHI president Tommy Thompson, former Wisconsin governor and former U.S. Health and Human Services secretary, maintained that LHI has received good reviews from a steering committee for the program, and that any delays were caused by NIOSH.
The truth probably lays somewhere between the complaints in the news story and the statements by Weber and Thompson. Plus, the quality of any service lays in the eyes of the beholder, or the person receiving that service.
Some will always want quicker responses, especially if they are suffering. Tracking down more than 4,000 people, especially from records kept by a big federal agency, is quite a task for any company.
LHI maintains it ran into delays in getting information such as responders’ names and contact information from previous administrators and medical providers. “A lot of the information was inaccurate,” Weber told the media. “No address, no phone number.”
The controversy demonstrates a few things, some of which have come up before in stories about LHI. First, when you become a national, or international, player in any industry, you’re also going to get more scrutiny. It comes with the territory. LHI has become a leader in its field, and thus gets such scrutiny. And, when you’re dealing with health services, scrutiny, if it is fair, is a good thing.
Second, some of LHI’s competitors in the past have complained about the letting of contracts to the La Crosse company. So, those competitors will be looking for any flaws in performances and will be prepared to say, “told you so.”
Finally, some of those complaints have centered around the role of Thompson, and his ties to the Bush administration and the health services bureaucracy in Washington. Competitors have complained that Thompson gives LHI an unfair, inside advantage on bidding for contracts.
Whether that’s fair or not, Thompson is a lightning rod. You have to expect it when you hire a man who has had as high a profile as he has had. Your business is going to be done more in the open with a former governor and Cabinet secretary as president. Such transparency probably is a good thing, even if it does lead to controversy at times.
The bottom line: What kind of service does LHI provide? The company already had landed significant contracts with the military and other government agencies before Thompson ever came on board, and for the most part received praise for its work.
LHI already was seen as a major player in its industry. It will continue to be so if it provides quality services to those in need.
