Byline: DIANA HEIL
ValueOptions is expected to win a $300 million to $350 million contract by early next week to manage behavioral health care in New Mexico.
A group of state agencies overseeing the selection process decided at a meeting Thursday to accept the contract after minor changes, mostly grammatical, are made. "It's not official yet, but it could be by Monday," state Human Services spokeswoman Betina Gonzales McCracken said.
ValueOptions, a Virginia-based company, will coordinate Medicaid services for substance abuse, depression and psychiatric illness. Starting July 1, it would be in charge of hundreds of programs now run by 10 state departments.
ValueOptions of New Mexico, as it is called here, plans to hire more than 170 people, according to the company's Internet advertisement.
The for-profit company also is seeking an American Indian employee to direct the Native American Regional Office in Santa Fe and an employee with experience in business operations to be vice president of recovery and resiliency.
ValueOptions competed with three other for-profit companies: United Behavioral Health Inc., Magellan Health Services and a joint proposal from Presbyterian Health Plan of Albuquerque and APS Healthcare.
In the 1990s, ValueOptions ran managed care behavioral health programs for Presbyterian Health Plan.
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