Group Files Ethics Complaint Over Medicaid Redesign Team

A New York City-based organization has submitted a formal ethics complaint to the state Commission on Public Integrity alleging that members of Governor Cuomo’s Medicaid Redesign Team (MRT) charging the panel members stand to benefit financially from its  recommendations.

The Center for Justice and Democracy, a national consumer organization “dedicated to protecting our civil justice system” argues that MRT members are public employees and are therefore covered by the state Public Officers Law, which restricts officials from mixing state duties with financial interests.

Jim Introne, the Governor’s Director of Healthcare Redesign, responded to the complaint, characterizing it as an absurd stunt.  He notes that “The MRT members were not engaged as ‘public officers’ but as ‘stakeholders’ — meaning they represented their own business interests in an advisory capacity.”

This may pose a vexing problem for the Commission.  In January, Governor Cuomo created the 27-member Medicaid Redesign Team through Executive Order #5.  By the very terms of the EO, the MRT was intended to include stakeholder in the Medicaid Redesign process.    In other words, the MRT did exactly what the Governor tasked them with doing.