State terminates contract with MaineCare provider
The state on Monday terminated a MaineCare contract with Biddeford-based Residential and Community Support Services after alleging the company failed to protect an individual who died while in its care.
The Department of Health and Human Services also terminated a separate state contract under which RCSS provided emergency transitional housing services, according to a news release Monday.
RCSS provides residential support for adults with developmental disabilities or brain injury at 38 one- and two-bedroom homes throughout southern Maine. In August, a resident of an RCSS facility had a medical emergency and died after the contractor’s staff did not administer critical medication or summon emergency help, according to the release.
Because of privacy requirements, DHHS said it would not provide further details about the death.
The department opened an investigation in late August and suspended all new admissions to RCSS on Aug. 30, according to the release. Police also have looked into the incident, although no findings were disclosed.
Since then, DHHS has also investigated other allegations related to RCSS residents, and conducted an audit of the contractor. The department also requested a plan for correcting the deficiencies, but said the improvements were “unacceptable.”
The audit found that RCCS failed to administer medication for other residents, did not have an adequate quality monitoring system, and had not implemented “effective safeguards to assure that overall health care standards are met.”
In addition to the contract terminations, DHHS said it has moved four residents to other housing, is now conducting another move, and plans to transition the remaining 65 residents to new homes over the next month.
RCSS has been a MaineCare provider since 2013.
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