The official appointed by U.S. District Judge David Ezra to monitor the Felix consent decree reportedly has reversed his recommendation that the state be found in compliance in providing services for special education students. Official reverses finding
that state is OK on special-edThe federal court has reportedly
been asked to continue oversightTherapeutic aide guilty of Felix service fraud
Star-Bulletin staff and news services
Key state lawmakers said yesterday they understand Ivor Groves now recommends the federal court continue close supervision of mental health and education programs.
Attorney Jeff Portnoy, who is Ezra's special master for the consent decree, confirmed that Groves has revised his recommendations, but said the report remains confidential.
Portnoy said he likely will file it with the court early next week, thereby making it public, but first wanted to give the parties, including the state, a chance to respond.
"It's a supplemental report that I asked for based on things that have occurred over the last 90 days that in my view could be important to what the court could decide on the consent decree," Portnoy said. He decline to elaborate.
In April, Groves drafted a 41-page report saying federal oversight of the Felix programs could be eased because the state had made progress in providing the services for special-needs students.
But Groves' report also said the state is not completely out of the woods and needs an additional two years of court supervision to address remaining challenges and to prove that it can maintain its progress, including keeping track of the $340 million annual budget for special-education resources.
Groves was appointed to monitor the state's effort to meet requirements under the 1994 consent decree that stemmed from a 1993 federal class-action lawsuit accusing the state of failing to provide federally mandated coordinated mental health and education services to disabled children.
State Sen. Colleen Hanabusa, D-Nanakuli-Waianae-Makaha, and Rep. Scott Saiki, D-Moiliili-McCully-Ala Wai, who head the Legislature's joint Felix investigative committee, said they've heard Groves now wants another year of compliance supervision. They said they have not seen Groves' new report.
The legislative committee, meanwhile, voted yesterday to subpoena 14 officials in the state Department of Health, including the seven branch chiefs of the department's Family Guidance Center, to testify under oath about their roles in the Felix programs.
"We're looking at the ways the contracts were issued, what kind of services were actually provided. We're always looking at how the moneys were spent," Hanabusa said.
The investigative committee also voted yesterday to pursue its subpoena of Judith Schrag, a member of Groves' technical assistance panel set up by Ezra to measure compliance.
Ezra quashed the committee's original subpoena and Hanabusa said negotiations on a narrower subpoena were recently broken off by Schrag's attorneys with no explanation.
Saiki said Schrag's testimony "is even more relevant now because she helped create the standards for the full consent decree and now there's a reversal in the monitor's recommendations and we'd like to know what happened."
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A therapeutic aide has been found guilty of falsely claiming $1,800 worth of intensive home therapy under the Felix consent decree. Therapeutic aide guilty
of Felix service fraudBy Pat Gee
pgee@starbulletin.comSusan Puapuaga, a former therapeutic aide with Alaka'i Na Keiki, an agency that provides services to special-needs children, changed her plea yesterday from not guilty to no contest on 10 counts of medical assistance fraud.
Circuit Judge Wilfred K. Watanabe immediately found her guilty of the Class C felonies and scheduled sentencing for Oct. 23.
The 28-year-old faces the normal maximum term of five years in prison for each count and a $10,000 fine for each count.
Puapuaga declined comment, but her attorney, Walter Rodby, said that she "apologizes and will pay back" the $1,800.
Puapuaga has two young children, and the family "was going through hard times" financially, Rodby said.
Rodby said Puapuaga made 10 separate billings for services from April to May of 2001 through the agency but never provided the services to the child to whom she claimed to give the therapy.
Deputy Attorney General Michael Parrish said the parents never knew who she was. The parents, in reviewing a billing statement of services provided, noticed the unfamiliar name and complained to the state Child and Adolescent Mental Health Division, he said.
This division authorizes and pays for the services as mandated by the Felix decree, which requires the state to make major improvements to educational and mental health services for special-needs children.
Parrish said the state is continuing an investigation into at least two dozen cases of fraud and expects many to result in indictments.
"We've had tons of calls from parents, and I suspect we'll get more," he said.
Parrish said that even though the $1,800 seems small, the padding of bills is pervasive because "there are hundreds of people like this able to do the same thing, and the numbers (in dollars) will add up."
Attorney General Earl Anzai had previously credited the work of the Joint Senate-House Investigative Committee with laying groundwork for the criminal probe.
Sen. Colleen Hanabusa (D, Waianae), the committee co-chairwoman, said the case further validates the work of the Attorney General's Office and the committee in pursuing potential abuses.
"We feel that the committee's work has proved to be in the best interest of the state," Hanabusa said.
Parrish encouraged parents to come forward if they see fraudulent claims on the billing statements and to call a toll-free number, 800-586-7080, set up specifically for these complaints.
Star-Bulletin reporter Crystal Kua contributed to this report.
