LogistiCare LogistiCare Solutions LLC, Anthem HealthKeepers Plus, DMAS of Virginia, Todd, Congressman Frank Wolf A company that changes its name, is full of Unethical, fraudulent, liars, scam artists, and bribery and corruption, Oh My!!! Atlanta, Georgia

LogisitiCare is a transportation broker company hired by government agencies to provide pre-authorized non-emergency Medicaid transportation through a statewide network of transportation providers. In Virginia, Department of Medical Assistance "DMAS" has a contract with LogistiCare. I've recently discovered that LogistiCare has also been hired by the government to provide services in other states.

Unfortunately, I suffer from an unknown illness, am unable to work and am also a cancer patient. I'm also a single parent of child with autism. Unfortunately I have to deal with Logisticare, like I need any more headaches.

I have lost track how many years I have been complaining about LogisitiCare's rotten service. I have complained to Anthem HealthKeepers Plus, who is hired by Medicaid to provide medical insurance for Medicaid recipients in Virginia. The government even has this complicated. Anthem HealthKeepers Plus is part of Anthem BC/BS of Virginia which is a sister company of BC/BS of DC, the main company. You even have to go to Anthem's website to access Anthem Healthkeepers Plus. Yeah, complicated. Anthem is helpless against Logisiticare. Anthem even has complaints against LogistiCare. Anthem says the government hires LogisitiCare and it's best to file complaints with DMAS. I've tried complaining to DMAS with no success. DMAS insists that LogistiCare is not my transportation provider, but Anthem HealthKeepers Plus is my transportation provider and to complain to them. Due to my numerous complaints, I've been assigned a case worker at Anthem to help with my transportation and other medical issues. She has been a gem. I don't know what I would've done without her. I've even complained to my congressman, Frank Wolf. The only thing he did was forward my complaint to DMAS, who inturn forwarded it to my caseworker. The only thing that Frank Wolf did was get me a caseworker. My caseworker can't do anything but call and complain and have meetings with LogisitiCare. It seems as though the government just keeps passing the buck and doesn't want to have any accountability regarding LogistiCare. It doesn't look like there is anyone to file a complaint with. I've even tried contacting the media with no luck.

For years, my son and I were missing medical appointments because transportation companies weren't showing up. My son needed Speech, OT, PT, and behavior therapies and those appointments were critically necessary. And due to my mystery illness, I couldn't afford to miss my appointments either. Logisticare would send companies that had drivers that didn't speak English. I couldn't communicate with them. Each time I scheduled a trip, I would have to tell them not to send non-English speaking drivers. Just because I had married a Puerto Rican, doesn't mean I speak spanish. I don't even have an accent. LogisitiCare would get nasty with me when I requested a transport company that was reliable. Those drivers would tell me to request them by name, but Logisticare said no. My caseworker even told me to request a company and driver that was reliable, but LogistiCare didn't care. My case worker finally got two companies assigned to me and placed in my record permanently, but Logisticare would screw it up after a couple of months and we're back at phone calls, meetings etc. When ever I call to schedule a trip, I request the specific transportation company and LogistiCare says there is no guarantee, and then we get into it as usual.

Just when you think that your trips are going smooth, LogistiCare screws it up. I have an arrangement with the transport company listed in my file as first call. When I schedule a trip, I call the owner with the trip number. Logisiticare was waiting until the day before to call a company. My case worker had scheduled a medical appointment with an endocrinologist for me and I had to wait a year for the appointment. She instructed me to wait 3-4 weeks before the appointment to call LogistiCare for the trip. I did. Logisticare waited until the morning of my appointment to call a company to transport me and they didn't have time to get the directions to take me to Richmond which takes 2 hours. I had to have multiple surgeries in 8 months some of which were for cancer and the owner of the transport company wanted to make sure I was comfortable and safe. LogistiCare screwed it up and claimed that the company refused the trips. The owner just needed time to switch vehicles so I would be comfortable and the hospital said that would be fine, but Logisticare lied and sent some guy I didn't know from a company I never heard of. I called Logisticare to complain and verify who this guy in my room was and the woman was rude and told me that if I didn't go, then I wouldn't get a ride at all. The hospital nurse appologized thinking it was her fault, but I had to explain that it's LogistiCare and I would file a complaint with my caseworker. Another time, LogistiCare sent a cab company instead the regular company and the cab company abandoned my son and I at the pharmacy with the H1N1 flu and we had to walk home with a 103 fever. I complained to my caseworker who had yet another meeting with LogistiCare. The most recent screw up was Logisticare didn't even call my regular transport company, and sent the local cab company who knowingly lies to me about the fragrance in the cab and LogistiCare and that cab company know I am highly allergic to chemicals and chemical fragrances. These airborne chemical fragrances, burn my eyes, lungs, and some cause anaphylaxsis. LogistiCare sent Cruzin Cab who had abandoned us before and lied about fragrances in their cab. I asked the cab driver if fragrance had been sprayed in the cab he answered "No". I asked three times and got the same reply. LogistiCare insisted I open the door and check, and I got hit with frangrance and my lungs started burning. I could not accept the ride. If I missed my cancer appointment at UVA, then I would have to wait several more months, and I needed tests to check my thyroid levels as I had thyroid cancer and needed my medicine. Luckily I was able to get in touch with my caseworker who in turn, called my regular ride who just lives 25 minutes away from me. LogistiCare never even that company. DMAS and the rest of the government don't do anything to LogistiCare and the complaints keep mounting.

Over the years, some of the good transport companies which I only see once because they are reliable and LogistiCare never sends them again, have confided in me about what they know about LogisitiCare. One driver told me that before he even started his first day, his boss/owner told him to drive the wheelchair van to some address in the middle of nowhere for someone from LogistiCare to inspect the van. Some guy met him and proceded to tell the new driver that he could not drive the van because it failed inspection. That occured the day before he picked me up and he was based out of Federicksburg,VA, that's 2 hours away from me. I noticed a valid state inspection sticker and as far as the state of Virginia was concerned the van passed even with a mild crack in the windshield. The driver mentioned that he called his boss to meet with the guy from LogistiCare. As soon as the owner arrived they walked away from the driver far enough away that he couldn't hear the conversation but he could still observe them shaking hands and when they came back to the driver, the owner said that everything was taken care of and he could drive the van tomorrow. I told Congressman Frank Wolf about this and neither he nor DMAS did anything. Anthem on the other hand agrees with me that something illegal is going on and Anthem wants something done about it.

Not long ago, I felt validated when a driver from another company told a driver of another company that in order to save their company they had to pay bribe money to LogistiCare. I think that's why the good reliable companies are losing their clients and going out of business. I spoke with Todd, a supervisor at LogistiCare and he was rude and nasty and told me that it was his decision to take away all the clients from the transport company assigned to me and assign them to a company from Fredericksburg, Virginia as it was more cost effective. I asked him how was it cost effective to have a company based 2 hours away from me given the high prices of gas rather than use a local company that is based 20-25 minutes away from me and all he could say was that it was a hard decision to make, but he had to make it. I later found out that he told the owner of my assigned transport company a different story and told them that he didn't make the decision, that someone else did. This Todd is also the one the some of these companies have to deal with when they don't get paid. Todd apparently tells these companies that Logisticare is not going to pay them and gives lame excuses. Once he told a company that they wouldn't pay them because I cancelled the trip they were trying to get paid for and that was a lie. I didn't cancel the trip, my ride showed up and took me. So the transport company found their records, verified with me and faxed the info over to LogistiCare. These companies have to fight to get paid and us patients have to fight to get transportation and the government isn't holding them accountable. LogistiCare just got their contract renewed and I don't understand how with all the illegal activities going on an my complaints and with the information I have, but no one seems to care.

Todd doesn't like being called a liar to his face or over the phone. He is a rude nasty man who thinks he can bully me and lie to me. Each time I catch him in a lie I call him on it and call him a liar, and boy he doesn't like it. My caseworker put me on the VIP list for LogistiCare and has a few other patients on the VIP list as they have the same problems with LogistiCare as I do. One person who is new to LogistiCare experience asked if it's normal for the medical transport to be 3-4-5 hours late. Nooo, that's not normal. That person needs a caseworker and file complaints with the insurance company assigned by Medicaid and file complaints with their congressman even though nothing is going to change..

After one complaint I made against LogistiCare to Congressman Wolf, they refused to give him information and their excuse was that they couldn't give out my personal medical information without my permission. WHAT!!!?, they are not supposed to have my personal medical records and Anthem confirmed this. I told Congressman Wolf this and told him he has my persmission to have what ever info they have on me and I demanded to know what personal medical records they have and how they got it because I did not give LogistiCare my permission to have this information. I never heard from Congressman Wolf nor DMAS on this issue regarding my personal medical information. I also heard from a transport company and DMAS as involved that someone from LogisitCare told the company that in order for them to get paid, then they had to get the patient's medical records from the facility in question to verify the patient was there. That breaks so many laws it's unbelievable. Since the transport company involved DMAS, DMAS claims they had that person at LogistiCare fired.

A more recent incident occured at Fair Oaks Hospital in Virginia. I witnessed a wheelchair van put a older woman in a wheelchair on the lift and the lift broke and the woman was exposed to cold air on windy day for 30 minutes or more because the lift broke. My driver told me that the company I mentioned is hired by LogistiCare and they have heard bad things about that company. The driver of the van asked someone for a crowbar to see if they could fix the lift while leaving that poor woman exposed to the cold. Finally, the driver asked someone to help him lift the woman off the lift. This is just inexcusable and unacceptable.

The transport company I use only has 4-5 clients because LogistiCare has taken away all the other clients. The company is down to 2 vans and two drivers and 2 regular vehicles for non wheelchair clients. There are reliable and care about their clients and LogisitiCare is trying to put good companies like this one out of business. If it wasn' for this company, I would've been stranded in Richmond, Virginia. Just 2 days post-op from my thyroid surgery I had a followup with my specialist and they thought I was having a heart attack as my blood pressure was extremely low. The doctor sent me to the ER and LogistiCare said the driver was not allowed to wait and sent him home. The stupid ER personel didn't call Logisticare for me and sent me on my way. I called LogistiCare 3-4 times on my prepaid cell phone and they kept me on hold waisting my minutes and kept hanging up on me. I even used the hospital courtesy phone and they still hung up. Someone finally told me that they would only deal with hospital personel about my discharge, but they wouldn't do it. Luckily I had direct contact with my assigned transport company and called the owner. She told me not to worry and sent her driver to come get me. By time we got home it was After midnight. This woman really cares about her clients. LogistiCare should be ashamed of themselves.

What is it going to take for LogistiCare and the government to be held accountable? Why won't anyone listen? I wish I could sue them.