NEW MEXICO (KRQE) – Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham spoke to the media today about the state’s decision to cut the cord with four healthcare providers, amid an investigation into the abuse of a developmentally disabled patient. Now the state is finding more cases of alleged abuse as it checks up on other patients around the state. Governor Lujan Grisham said the state will be doing visits in person with everyone in the state’s program involved with developmental disability patients.
On Mar. 1, 2023, the state was notified of a potential abuse case; details are limited since the case is still under investigation, but the state decided to terminate the contracts with four providers that help care for the developmentally disabled. The four providers that lost their state contracts served 708 individuals on the developmental disabilities waiver. KRQE News 13 reached out to the four providers for comment but has not heard back from them.
The investigation has workers from the Department of Health (DOH), Human Services, and Aging and Long-Term Services fanning out around the state to check on patients who are staying with providers. They’ve visited a total of 383 care providers. “Checking on 1,013 people over Saturday and Sunday, eight allegations of abuse or neglect have been reported from those visits and are being investigated,” said Patrick Allen, DOH secretary.
“We’re developing a plan now to do in-person wellness checks on all 6,610 individuals receiving services from one of our developmental disabilities programs as quickly as possible, with the goal of visiting each person within 30 days,” said Allen.
One of the companies, A New Vision Case Management, sent out an email to patients’ families declaring that the abused patients were not under their care. They’re appealing the contract termination and looking into legal options.
