D.C. Government Fined More Than $900,000 in Medicaid Case

The federal district court fined the District of Columbia $931,050 last week for failing to comply with a court order in a Medicaid class action.

Judge Gladys Kessler of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that the District had missed deadlines for providing Medicaid health screening, diagnostic, and treatment services for D.C. children.

The case arose after lead counsel Terris, Pravlik & Millian and its co-counsel, the National Health Law Program, filed a class action against the District in 1993. The plaintiffs won at trial in 1996.

The parties reached a settlement agreement in 1999. After the District failed to meet deadlines in the settlement agreement and in subsequent court orders to provide certain health services, the court issued a penalties order in 2006, under which the plaintiffs were to alert the court if the District continued to miss deadlines.

In her Aug. 13 decision, Judge Kessler noted several instances where the District failed to meet deadlines or to request extensions. She based the penalty on the District's “persistent and longstanding” failure to comply with deadlines and the “institutional failure” of the D.C. government to meet Medicaid requirements.

“The judge hit the nail on the head with what the case is really about,” said Kathleen Millian, of Terris, Pravlik & Millian. “It’s about the political leadership in the District failing to provide the resources to help its citizens with Medicaid and about them failing to comply with this court order."

There has been no determination of specifically how the penalty money will be used, but Millian says it will be for the benefit of the class action participants.

UPDATE: Peter Nickles, the acting D.C. attorney general, said in a statement, “We have substantial ground for an appeal and will continue to provide citizens of the District with quality Medicaid service.”