Its unclear whether the contract also addresses transport times from the testing site to the lab. LANSING, Mich. - Six contracts totaling nearly $60 million have been awarded by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) to the help improve COVID-19 vaccination access for high-risk populations and settings across Michigan. Honu has lived up to the contract terms.. Some testing sites have arranged to work with laboratories to create patient portals that allow people who have been tested to look up their results online ( BioReference, LabCorp, Quest ). Honu Management Group, statewide, homebound; community mobile sites; neighborhood testing sites; seasonal agriculture; and shelters and vulnerable populations - $20,000,000. Is Dallas becoming unaffordable due to rising housing costs, inflation and stagnating pay? stay healthy! If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it. The effects also could lead to the development of new conditions, such as diabetes or a heart or nervous . In August, the testing site relocated to Eastfield College in Mesquite. A new internal report by Dallas County's health department obtained by The News found that wait times for results from local Honu sites have increased markedly. The most common reason for delay in receiving results is inaccurate or out-of-date personal information on record with your health care providers or in your Labcorp Patient portal personal profile. Washington state-based Honu Management Group also may have overstated the scope of its work when it negotiated its Dallas coronavirus testing contract, and claimed to have White House. Sutfin said the state "closely monitors lab turnaround time and will do so in this case as well, as testing with Honu ramps up.". But CareATCs president and chief operating officer, Scott Strickland, said the company utilized Honu for a very limited time and simply bought one iPad, some protective gear and 50 coronavirus test kits which have gone unused. Thornton did not respond to questions about the quality of services the company provided to the tribe. *+c"(wLu&XvqGPxw"jxuy~U[%8I&2:(L j@QHH5B0$/^( A second reference told The News Honu overstated its work and another customer said they had a bad experience with the company. The city and county are splitting the cost of the contract. DHEC has contracts with nine testing vendors across the state to perform COVID-19 testing. Honu Management Group, statewide, homebound; community mobile sites; neighborhood testing . Sender Address. I do know that based on what Ive read that theres been an interest at the federal level on kickback schemes involving pharmacies across the nation, said Peterson. Nor did the city catch a potential conflict of interest: an El Paso construction company owner used Honu to test his workers and vouched for the companys services. For additional. Only 237 of the reported new cases are from recent testing. Hours. Results . The city and county of Dallas will end their joint agreement with a Washington-based company that was hired to run a publiccoronavirustesting site after the turnaround time for results was taking nearly twice as long as before, Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkinssaid late Monday. She specializes in data analysis. After waiting 10 days for an inconclusive test result, shes still not sure if she had the virus. Sutfin said the state will "carefully monitorHonus performance, including its timeliness, and take action if problems arise. Jenkins toldThe Dallas Morning News onMonday that an internal investigation by the Dallas County health department revealedsamples collected at the Honu-run site was taking up to four days to reach a lab near Austin, delaying results up to seven days. The newspaper reports the decision confirmed by a spokesman for Mayor Eric Johnson came after city and county officials began investigating Honu Management Groups performance and how it won the $14 million contract when it began running a drive through testing site July 1 in Irving. You cannot use this service to report results from a. Dallas city officials said they followed proper vetting procedures. It breaks my heart when people try to abuse the system that is designed for patient care, Thornton said. Students need to be able to learn on their own in a distance learning environment, so their ability to self-regulate their learning in a distance learning environment . By the fourth week, that jumped to eight days on average. A whistleblower alleged in 2017 that DA Medical Group representatives, including Thornton, had proposed a business arrangement: the doctors would receive a rebate for having patients prescriptions filled by Oregon pharmacies, according to Washington state investigative records obtained by The News. DALLAS A Washington state-based company is drawing increasing scrutiny as it secures publicly-funded COVID-19 testing contracts across the county. Nearly 13,000 COVID cases had been reported in St. Clair County, with 275 deaths and 3,936 active . Contact Kristen Jordan Shamus: 313-222-5997 or kshamus@freepress.com. W Z Ks/ d ] v P z } ( ] o ] ] o ] P ] o } ] Ks/ ] v P o ] ( } ( Z P X Title: Microsoft PowerPoint - Presentation1 Author: sarah Created Date: 11/30/2020 9:54:30 AM If yes, provide the date, contracting entity, type of contract, and details about the termination or default. The bulk more than 10,000 involved Honus site at the University of Dallas during July. One thing the city pointed out is, Hey, you know, no ones been arrested for anything, Hacker recalled. By signing up you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, Stand with us in our mission to discover and uncover the story of North Texas, Dallas taps Parkland Health to do coronavirus testing after concerns surface over delayed results, Connect with needs and opportunities from. Thompson Technologies, statewide, homebound, community mobile sites; seasonal agriculture; and shelters and vulnerable populations - $15,000,000. 2023 FOX Television Stations, Tarrant County Jail corporal killed in single-vehicle crash in Arlington, Rockwall-Heath coach resigns after school workout investigation, Things to do this weekend in Dallas-Fort Worth: March 3-5, Prosper man who shot neighbor's pit bull will not face charges, One charged in Lake Worth chase that injured 13-year-old sexual assault victim, more arrests expected, New street drug 'tranq dope,' rots skin, turns humans into 'zombies', 3 children killed, 2 hurt in Italy, Texas, Biden has cancerous skin lesion removed from chest, doctor says, Severe weather video and photos from around North Texas, Suspected North Texas scented candle thieves allegedly stole $27,774 worth of items. Please report a positive COVID-19 test to covidaction@utep.edu so our COVID Action Team can follow up with you. "We welcome the audits as an opportunity to affirm who we are as a company.". receive a COVID-19 rapid PCR test. 2023 www.freep.com. AH6HL??o >J We want them to be accurate and timely, Jenkins said. Frth is a perfect blend of old and new! Sioux Nation is not the name of any federally recognized tribe and more than a dozen have Sioux in the name, according to the Indian Health Service. ALLEGAN COUNTY The Allegan County Health Department will be holding a series of free, drive-thru COVID-19 testing events in November. Dr. Does that mean Honu is free to operate, unregulated? That hasnt happened yet.. Both the city and county of Dallas have ended their contract with embattled Honu Management Group, which ran the largest public COVID-19 testing site, The Dallas Morning Newsreports. Nic Garcia writes about government and politics in North Texas, especially Dallas County. There's a new coronavirus-testing company in town, and it isn't Honu Management Group. A new internal report by Dallas Countys health department obtained by The News found that wait times for results from local Honu sites have increased markedly. Michigan residents seeking more information about the COVID-19 vaccine can visitMichigan.gov/COVIDvaccine. The first reference, Converging Health, confirmed to the city it worked with Honu on a large testing project and said Honu went above and beyond to help us meet the demands of the client with such a short timeline, records show. This was in partnership with the National Guard, HONU Management Group, and the city of Detroit. The United States Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has more information at a federal level about COVID-19 and our current pandemic. Both the city and county planned to pay Honu using a portion of the $500 million in federal aid the local governments received from Congress as part of its coronavirus relief package. Nic Garcia, Senior writer. Honu, named for a Hawaiian green sea turtle, had a bumpy start in Texas. KaiHonua. Previously Holly reported for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Ventura County (Calif.) Star and the Antioch (Calif.) Ledger Dispatch. Get immediate access to organizations and people Site Type 6 will be bid out to the awarded contractors on an as needed basis upon determination by the state. COVID-19 testing is conducted by private vendor Honu on behalf of the Texas Division of Emergency Management and the city of Longview and Gregg County Emergency Management on Thursday, July 23 . Please check and confirm the following: endstream endobj startxref Thornton told the Free Press the tests the company is using, PCR nasopharyngeal and PCR saliva-based testing, can detect SARS-COV-2at least 95% of the time. Log in with your date of birth to view your test results. A Google search led to a November news report from KING-TV in Seattle about a Washington State Department of Health investigation into at least two foot doctors regarding an alleged medical kickback scheme. The Texas Tribune has more. Experts say that current death counts are bound to be an undercount because of insufficient testing at the beginning of the pandemic. Individuals wanting to be tested can contact any Georgia public health department to schedule an appointment at a SPOC location convenient to them. Thats my thing.. Thornton said the change came after parting ways with his former business partner. As of Nov. 30, Otsego County had 3,947 COVID-19 cases and 67 deaths from the disease. Like at Ellis Davis, Parkland staff will completely take over the Eastfield site, including screening for eligibility, registering patients and collecting specimens. The Allegan County Health Department is teaming up with Allegan County Transportation and HONU Management Group to have free drive-thru COVID-19 testing events in Allegan County. It is able to provide test results in an average of 3.52 days. Thornton told The News there was no kickback scheme. Test results will be sent via text or email within 48 hours from your test date. The whistleblower suspected the doctors were making hundreds of thousands of dollars each year through the arrangement. If the answer is yes, then state the date of initial filing, case name and court number, and jurisdiction. The licensed doctors, who denied any wrongdoing through their attorneys, are the ones under investigation. Spokane Valley, WA We've detected that JavaScript is disabled in your browser. The company won the contract after the county stopped using the federal government for testing because it was taking too long to get results. "Because Honu has only conducted one testing event so far, its too soon to say how quickly their results are coming back as a general matter," Sutfin said, or to get a picture of the percentage of positive tests. We would not be in a position to make any announcements about the company itself, said Peterson, because Honu and DA Medical are not licensed healthcare facilities. Locations being considered for potential future HONU sites are Waimanalo, Waipahu, Wahiawa, Ewa, and Leeward Oahu. They will be phased in as needed as the National Guard is still providing testing assistance. A new site will open at Westwood Mall, located at 3020 U.S. 41 West in Marquette Township, beginning Monday. Testing will take place at the . Drive-through. Washington state-based Honu Management is under scrutiny after failing to meet its COVID-19 testing contract within three days. In seeking a contractor, city officials bypassed the usual competitive bidding rules. %%EOF Washington state-based Honu Management Group also may have overstated the scope of its work when it negotiated itsDallas coronavirus testing contract,and claimedto have White House approval it did not have, according to a Dallas Morning News investigation. . New Uvex Group jobs added daily. Jenkins told county commissioners at their Tuesday meeting that the hospital would provide up to 250 tests per day, half of Honus volume. The city said it did not know that Honu, under a prior name, had been mentioned in a Washington state investigation of a kickback scheme involving podiatrists and prescription foot creams. Even though the Washington State Department of Health has thousands of pages of investigative files on DA Medical Group, and its CEO Devin Thornton, those records have been not been made public as the department investigation stretches beyond three years. The CAPA/IAPA expert group defined 14 areas in which recommendations would be made. Honus application also said another company called mLife helped gain White House approval for Honus coronavirus testing program. mLife Diagnostics President Hunt Allred said mLife sent Honus information to contacts in D.C., but isnt sure what happened from there. T>103Yh~m&&=bg3ZBs L55@:sad`p2h3! X Peterson was asked if DOH should do more to warn other states about Honus link to DOHs ongoing investigation, since so much is at stake with coronavirus testing. Honu won the contract through a competitive bidding process run through the state Department of Technology, Management and Budget, Sutfin said. I didnt hear anything from the facility until ten days later when I received my test results, said Vanessa Izquierdo, who recently visited a drive-through test site that Honu ran at the University of Dallas. The state's contract stipulates that Honu can use either polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests or rapid point-of-care tests that have gottenemergency use authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. . Date of Birth. Thornton did answer questions from the Dallas Morning News. Michigan Antigen Testing Results. When Honu Management Group pitched itself to run a major coronavirus testing site for the city and county of Dallas, the company listed impressive experience. Honu is classified as a woman owned small business, recognized NAGC certified member, and registered GSA contractor (CAGE: 8LTV3, DUNS 117481755) that has worked to help provide patient centered services with a focus on care coordination, collaboration, and transparency in order to provide health care services with cost-effective solutions. Finally, the Honu Management Group, conducts COVID testing and provides weekly access to COVID-19 vaccines and booster shots. City and county officials did not immediately respond to questions from The News on Tuesday about contract details. The Allegan County Health Department will hold drive-through events for residents to get tested for COVID-19 every Wednesday 1-7 p.m beginning Wednesday, Sept. 22. In July, Washington state-based Honu began operating a county drive-through site at the University of Dallas in Irving. Clients and Partners The department has not issued any charges and the case remains open. EB#LIUDD"?spvg^^=/um$.`9 JwK=fSwyKl%=)mLZbtrr>@@p!8mlzr}_O!r6 Er;I$QY4atZys`w{dYaPe6? Providing effective and efficient management services that assist healthcare facilities and organizations by providing cost-effective solutions to both patients and the healthcare system. The decision less than two months after Honu began running drive-through testing for the city and county came after local officials began investigating the companys $14.6 million contract. Call us: 211. Dallas city officials noted that DA Medical and Thornton have not been charged with any crimes. No spam, ever. ABC House tests all 36 staff every Monday. In most cases, lab test results delivery times should not exceed two weeks. It has no jurisdiction over DA Medical Group or Thornton, she said. %PDF-1.6 % ", "As this virus has continued to spread and adapt so have we as a company and community health service provider," Thornton wrote in an email message to the Free Press. Last month The News reported on potential. When youre trying to herd cats, and youre trying to get things out, that was honestly an oversight, he said. What no one mentioned then: Anderson and his son own Nova Labs, also called NovaDX -- one of Honus lab partners where the workers samples were tested, records show. In Dallas, Texas officials paused a $14 million testing contract with Honu Management, of Spokane Valley, after the company failed to meet its contract requirement to turn around test results within three days. Rock Island, IL. Absent a national testing program, state and local governments are taking on much of this crucial work themselves. Honu partnered with one in the Austin area. The contract with Hanu is being cancelled. Is Dallas becoming unaffordable due to rising housing costs, inflation and stagnating pay? In Sanilac County, there were 2,762 total cases or 307 new. V9A}A|Rzk9X]Yd\ M#F4$A|fQ $K>1mVK)7t*47qE_)ayM 6+(Q ofsy!~%z_emdyrV5Bhz\ 7BxogcR?IXWV1lOI%1!q'VA!1wyBY_]~q@g{18~y_rzS|-$#[l7H ql%;DGoH,Zv. No appointments are needed, and those seeking assistance with test results can email Covid19Help@honumg.com or call 1-844-778-2455. Devin Thornton, the Honu and DA Medical Group CEO, has not responded to KING 5s numerous calls and messages. For assistance. After a positive test result, you may continue to test positive for some time after. Materials for People with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities and Care Providers, COVID-19 Vaccine Provider Guidance and Educational Resources, Michigan Coronavirus Task Force on Racial Disparities, https://dev.michigan.local/som/json?sc_device=json, State awards six contracts for COVID-19 vaccination to high-risk populations and settings across Michigan, Go to Materials for People with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities and Care Providers, Direct Care Workers: Communications Toolkit, Go to COVID-19 Vaccine Provider Guidance and Educational Resources, Go to Michigan Coronavirus Task Force on Racial Disparities, Go to COVID-19 Therapeutics Information Page, Shelters, transient communities, other vulnerable populations. To date, the state, through the Texas Division of Emergency Management, has paid Honu $2.4 million for its services, according to payment records posted online. Holly K. Hacker. The second site run by the Texas Military Department Mobile Testing Team will be at the Eastside Sports. It made us ask more questions about just who is this company? Hacker said. Even gaining White House approval for its testing program. KING 5s investigation revealed a three-year probe by the Washington State Department of Health that accuses Thornton and others at DA Medical of orchestrating a kickback scheme to bilk insurance companies. A spokesman for Mayor Eric Johnson confirmed the change. In June, Honus laboratory partner in California returned false positives to nursing homes in Dallas County and other parts of Texas, state officials said, setting off a rush to isolate frail residents. the Coronavirus crisis. When she did get her results 10 days later, they were rejected, meaning the test was unable to determine whether she had coronavirus. Fauci says if you dont get your results back within five days, it really becomes less valuable to contact trace, Jenkins said. Parkland will send the samples to ARUP Laboratories, the same private lab it uses for its other testing sites, Parkland officials said Tuesday. Allie Morris, Austin Bureau Correspondent . 12615 E. Mission Ave Ste #101, Spokane Valley, WA 99216. Devin Thornton,CEO and founder of Honu Management Group, said the company doesn't take its contract with Michigan lightlyand hasworked with the state for the lastmonth "to plan for a successful launch. Allie has covered Texas politics since 2017 and written about everything from tax policy to child protection. 1054 0 obj <>stream He also reports on social justice issues and inequities. ACCESS, Region 10, homebound; community mobile sites; shelters and vulnerable populations - $1,100,000. The county looked at more than 12,000 test results from Honu sites in the Dallas area over six weeks in July and August. The latest information is available atMichigan.gov/CoronavirusandCDC.gov/Coronavirus. The city said Honu is meeting the obligations of the contract, including turning around test results quickly. The contract with Hanu (sic) is being cancelled, Jenkins wrote. 3/1/2023. As KING 5 reported in November, three Seattle-area foot doctors are accused of over-prescribing medications and equipment to patients whose insurance companies were billed for the treatments. A general rise in COVID-19 cases, as well as the spread of the B.1.1.7 variant in Livingston County, is prompting a drive-thru testing event this weekend. We will get residents fast,accurate results. We didnt go through the normal soliciting for an open bid, Hacker told KING 5 about Dallass hasty decision hire Honu. The state of Michigan recently signed a $42 million contract with Honu, which is expected to begin testing there within a few weeks. It was interesting. They have secured multi-million dollar public contracts in Texas, Missouri, and Michigan. In mid-June, Anderson vouched for Honu and told the city the company had tested more than 500 of his workers, according to notes from the citys phone call with Anderson. I dont understand. 247 0 obj <>stream A not detected (negative) test result for this test means that SARS- CoV-2 RNA was not present in the specimen above the limit of detection.