David Adkins, Author at West Virginia Public Broadcasting

State Proposes Increasing Medicaid Ambulance Reimbursement Rates To Balance Fuel Costs

The West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources (DHHR) wants to increase the reimbursement rates to ambulance service providers by 10 percent. This would match prevailing fees identified by the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services geographic costs index.

“This is important for West Virginia’s Medicaid Program to ensure continued access to essential health care services,” said Cindy Beane, commissioner of DHHR’s Bureau for Medical Services.

The fuel cost for Cabell County EMS increased more than $100,000 this past year alone.

“We’re struggling with the fuel costs and everything; that’s going to be greatly appreciated,” said Cabell County EMS Director Gordon Merry.

According to the West Virginia Bureau for Medical Services, the rate increase is anticipated to go into effect on July 1.

As Enrollment Drops, Marshall Aims To Change Spending Strategy

Marshall University President Brad D. Smith identified enrollment, the experience of students, and faculty needs as the major areas Marshall needs to improve.

After receiving 1,200 suggestions from listening sessions over his first 100 days, Marshall University President Brad D. Smith identified enrollment, the experience of students, and faculty needs as the major areas Marshall needs to improve.

Marshall has lost a fifth of the enrollment it had six years ago. Smith said part of the reason was common skepticism toward investing time and money into getting a degree. He also said that Marshall’s decline in enrollment mirrored a similar economic decline in the southwestern part of West Virginia, where the university receives the majority of its enrollment.

“After 2026, just given the birth rate in our country, it starts to drop precipitously, if you’re only focused on 18 year olds coming to college, then your enrollment is going to go down just because the demographics are not working in your favor,” Smith said when discussing a national trend known as the, “enrollment cliff.”

Marshall hopes to improve enrollment by reducing tuition. The school is also shifting their focus away from 18 year olds and towards potentially older students over a wider geographical area.

Smith also hopes to improve enrollment by using a “high flex education model,” which will give students the opportunity to attend classes both in person and virtually.

Marshall is also working with McKinsey Consulting to make operations, such as the student bookstore, more accessible to older, employed students.

In 2021, McKinsey agreed to a nearly $573 million settlement with 47 states over investigations into their involvement with the opioid epidemic.

“I don’t feel conflicted,” Smith responded when asked about McKinsey Consulting’s controversy. “The reason why I don’t feel conflicted is they are all in to try and do this right.”

To support Marshall faculty, Smith says that the school needs to match the compensation from other universities and he is looking to support their faculty by lightening the workload. “When you’re a research university, you need more labs, you need more graduate assistants, you need to give your professors a chance to back off a little bit on teaching load and increase the opportunity to do other things,” Smith said. “We haven’t kept pace.”

By saving two months of operating cash as a baseline, Marshall is looking to become financially resilient toward an event such as another pandemic. Beyond that reserve, Smith says the university will put that money towards students, faculty, and improving existing infrastructure.

Governor's Tobacco Task Force Requests $10 Million Less Than CDC Recommendation

Dr. Ayne Amjad, commissioner of the West Virginia Bureau for Public Health, and state health officer, recommends a $16.7 million budget for the governor's Tobacco Use Prevention and Cessation Task Force.

Dr. Ayne Amjad, commissioner of the West Virginia Bureau for Public Health, and state health officer, recommends a $16.7 million budget for the governor’s Tobacco Use Prevention and Cessation Task Force. That is $10 million less than the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends.

The CDC ranked West Virginia 53rd in the country for smoking rates. According to the CDC, almost 24 percent of adults use tobacco in West Virginia, compared to the national average of 14 percent. According to the task force, West Virginia loses $1 billion annually in health care costs due to smoking, and a loss of $1.2 billion worth of production.

The task force was created through House Bill 4494 in 2020 with a budget just under $500,000. Its purpose was to collect data on tobacco use in West Virginia and develop advertising and programs to help with preventing tobacco use and assisting with cessation, or quitting, tobacco. These programs include the toll free Quitline, which received around 10,000 callers last year.

At the June legislative interim meeting of the Join Standing Committee on Health, Del. Barbara Evans Fleischauer, D-Monongalia, asked Amjad why the task force didn’t go with the CDC recommendation.

“To speak bluntly,” Amjad said. “We didn’t think proposing a $27 million budget would be looked as favorably upon as if we could cut it down to $16 million looking at the individual tasks.”

Delays In School Construction Could Leave Nicholas County Owing Millions To FEMA

There’s a struggle to break ground on the construction of three public schools originally damaged by flooding six years ago.

Nicholas County Schools has just two years to complete federally backed construction projects or risk owing millions to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

During the flooding disaster of 2016, Richwood Middle School, Richwood High School, and Summersville Middle School in Nicholas County were severely damaged.

Four years later, in 2020, FEMA awarded the West Virginia School Building Authority with a grant of $131 million to replace the schools in Nicholas County.

More than $17 million of that has been spent as of June 13, 2022. The county is negotiating a construction contract that fits within the current budget.

Construction was delayed because of increased costs due to COVID-19.

“We, by our estimations, are around 25 to 35 percent over our budgeted amount,” David L. Roach, Executive Director of the West Virginia School Building Authority, said.

Nicholas County Board of Education has authority over how to spend the FEMA funding.

Richwood Middle School and Richwood High School will be consolidated into a single complex that will include Cherry River Elementary School.

Summersville Middle is being built next to the new Nicholas County High School and Nicholas County Career and Technical Center at the Glade Creek Business Park.

“We’re talking about kids that have been displaced from their educational environment,” Del. Brandon Steele, R-Raleigh, said. “The kids that were in school, have graduated college, and got a career in the time that we can’t figure out how to break ground.”

The deadline is Dec. 2024. If the scope of work isn’t completed by the deadline, all funds will need to be paid back to FEMA by Nicholas County.

RISE Nears Completion While New Homeowners Face Insurance Issues

West Virginia Department of Economic Development Community Advancement and Development Division updates Joint Legislative Committee on Flooding on RISE program.

Six years after the flooding disaster of 2016, West Virginia’s RISE flood relief program is finishing with its relief spending.

The West Virginia Department of Economic Development (DED) Community Advancement and Development (CAD) Division RISE program is funded by $149 million worth of Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

As of June 1st, RISE has spent $3,921,506.69 of its $6.8 million block grant disaster recovery budget. The funding was used to complete projects on 367 houses through their Housing Restoration & Rental Program and 46 bridges through their Bridge Home Program. According to Jennifer Ferrell, director of the West Virginia DED CAD Division, they plan to complete 20 more housing projects and eight more bridges.

RISE also completed 54 demolition projects out of a total of 80 to 90, through their Clearance and Demolition Program.

“We have elevated 22 percent of the houses out of the floodplain and provided flood insurance for some of our applicants,” Ferrell said.

RISE received $106 million from HUD for their mitigation projects.

“HUD defines mitigation as those activities that increase resilience to disasters, lessen the impact of future disasters, and reduce or eliminate long term risk of life and injury, damage to or loss of property and suffering and hardship,” Ferrell said.

Over $65 million was awarded to 18 projects, including two water treatment plants, two dams, one sanitary sewer relocation, nine stormwater projects and four planning projects.

RISE is accepting their second group of applications for mitigation projects through June 30. Municipalities, counties, state agencies, nonprofits, and non governmental organizations are eligible to apply for mitigation funding.

When Del. Dean Jeffries, R-Kanawha, asked Ferrell whether or not RISE homeowners could afford flood insurance, she indicated that she doesn’t have the data, but she does “guesstimate” that the amount has tripled.

“If there’s ever another disaster, they cannot receive any type of federal dollars,” Ferrell said when Jeffries asked about the consequences of not paying flood insurance.

The West Virginia RISE plans to finish their disaster recovery projects by the end of September.

RISE’s disaster recovery projects, you can visit www.wvfloodrecovery.com. For more information on their mitigation projects, you can visit https://wvcad.org/infrastructure.

USDA Funds Water Infrastructure In Milton And Tyler County

The Mountain State is receiving funding for water infrastructure from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Senators Joe Manchin and Shelley Moore Capito announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture is providing the City of Milton and Tyler County with $4,370,000 through the Rural Development Water and Wastewater Disposal Grant and Loan Program.

Milton will receive a $2,552,000 grant and a $1,000,000 loan to address inflow issues with its wastewater collection system. The funding will assist in extending the Milton sewer collection system along U.S. Route 60 and add a lift station to the Salt Rock Public Service District.

Tyler County will receive a $500,000 grant and a $318,000 loan to expand water distribution from Boreman Elementary to Centerville and Alma, expanding drinking water and fire protection to more residents. The funding will assist the construction of a new storage tank to prevent water shortages during dry periods. Funding will also go toward a new booster station for the water system.

“It’s not a want for water, it’s a need,” the Tyler County Public Service District general manager and chief water operator, Tina Lancaster, said. “The residents; most of them haul water daily.”