Medical Transportation Provider Accused Of Disserving L.A.’s Frail Patients

Patient advocates and social workers say low-income and vulnerable patients in Los Angeles County have frequently been unable to get to their appointments on time — or at all.

News Story (California)

Anna Gorman
Kaiser Health News (KHN)
July 14, 2017
READ THE FULL STORY HERE

Tags: Health Care, Medicaid

Organizations mentioned/involved: Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles County (NLSLA), New Haven Legal Assistance Association (CT)

---

DETAILS

“The uncertainty of when or if LogistiCare is going to come … takes a tremendous toll on people who have no resources,” said Toni Vargas, an attorney at Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles County, a public interest law firm. “They don’t have the resources to say, ‘Enough is enough. I am going to go with another company.’”

Neighborhood Legal Services recently sued LogistiCare in Los Angeles County Superior Court, alleging that the company harmed the county’s Medicaid patients by failing to provide “safe, reliable, and timely transportation.” Among the patients ill-served by the company were a double amputee, a woman partially paralyzed from a stroke and a man with a brain injury, the suit said.

Patients who needed help were left on the curb or waiting for hours for rides, and others were harassed or driven in unsafe vehicles, according to the suit. Two patients allegedly were injured when their wheelchairs weren’t secured in a van.