{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://stefanik.house.gov/2025/12/stefanik-demands-federal-investigation-into-hochul-s-nys-doh-medicaid-mismanagement-as-north-country-hospitals-face-closure-following-funding-lapse", "Stefanik Demands Federal Investigation into Hochul\u2019s NYS DOH Medicaid Mismanagement as North Country Hospitals Face Closure Following Funding Lapse", "2025-12-16", "2025", "2025-12", "Republican", "House", "NY", "Elise M. Stefanik", "S001196", "stefanik.house.gov", "stefanik", "https://stefanik.house.gov/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, D.C. - Congresswoman Elise Stefanik (R-NY), Chairwoman of House Republican Leadership, sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi urgently requesting the Department of Justice (DOJ) to launch an immediate investigation into the New York State Department of Health (DOH) for potential mismanagement of federal Medicaid funds under Governor Kathy Hochul\u2019s failed leadership, which has left rural hospitals on the brink of closure just weeks before Christmas, including North Star Health Alliance (NSHA) hospitals, Carthage Area Hospital, and Claxton-Hepburn Medical Center/Campus.\n\n\u201cSeven million New Yorkers rely on Medicaid for healthcare services. North Star Health Alliance hospitals serve the geographically isolated St. Lawrence and Jefferson Counties, where Federal tax dollars support crucial programs for the surrounding population,\u201d Stefanik wrote. \u201cThe closure of Ogdensburg's only acute care hospital would have devastating economic impacts on the region as well. North Star officials have informed my office that 1,700 jobs are threatened in the event that the state forces a closure by not releasing funds owed.\u201d She continued, writing, \u201cAdditionally, North Star Health Alliance's hospitals and affiliates form a critical, integrated healthcare network that directly supports Fort Drum, home of the United States Army 10th Mountain Division.\u201d\n\n\u201cGovernor Hochul has long used our taxpayers\u2019 Medicaid contributions like a personal slush fund for her own benefit. The State\u2019s refusal to release promised funding and resolve procedural delays is manufacturing a crisis that threatens the health, economy, and security of the North Country,\u201d she concluded.\n\nStefanik requests that the DOJ investigate the following to quantify the funds owed and expose DOH\u2019s willful systemic issues:\n\nClaims Volume Shortfall: What was the shortfall in claims volume during February-April 2024, the period during and immediately following the cyberattack, versus expected Medicaid managed-care encounter volume?\n\nPayment Lag Time: What was the lag time in payment of claims by MCOs, and how did this overlap with the DPT rating period deadlines to potentially deny funding?\n\nDPT Application: Can it be shown in detail through MCO remittance data whether DPT add-ons were applied to specific late/adjusted claims?\n\nUnderpayment Evidence: Is there any other evidence of underpayment by the state compared to expected CMS-approved DPT amounts from the preprint caps?\n\nMCO Disputes: Have there been any disputes or correspondence between the hospital and its Medicaid MCOs regarding missed supplemental payments, and were those ever resolved?\n\nBinding Guidance: Has the state issued any binding guidance requiring MCOs to retroactively account for lost claims that does not appear in public documentation?\n\nTimeline of Key Events and Hochul\u2019s Disengagement\n\nThe timeline includes months of alleged bureaucratic delays, inconsistent guidance, and withheld funding from DOH that have severely destabilized the hospitals. It also includes cyberattacks and staff turnover that compounded the financial strain on NSHA following a pattern of purposeful politicized disengagement from Hochul\u2019s DOH and frivolous data requests that ultimately halted the progress of a state-endorsed hospital transformation plan.\n\nBackground\n\nThe letter focuses on the state\u2019s alleged mishandling of the DPT programs. New York's DPT programs are Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)-approved add-on payments tied directly to paid Medicaid Managed Care claims. If a claim is not processed or paid, the DPT funding is not triggered. The February 2024 cyberattack on Change Healthcare, which processes up to 50 percent of all claims, created a clear and documented mechanism for DPT underpayment. DOH allegedly refused to accept that this incident or the structural changes at NSHA such as licensure, CMS approval, and credentialing delays would result in DPT underpayments\u2014even though public sources confirm significant disruptions to claims.\n\nUnder Hochul\u2019s politicized disengagement, DOH declined to address the underpayment, and there is no public evidence that the NYS government directed Managed Care Organizations (MCOs) to retroactively apply DPT add-ons for claims affected by the outage.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T20:09:11Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://stefanik.house.gov/2025/12/stefanik-demands-federal-investigation-into-hochul-s-nys-doh-medicaid-mismanagement-as-north-country-hospitals-face-closure-following-funding-lapse"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.5394589863717556, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}