2011-1796 - Laserfiche WebLink

STATE OF LOUISIANA ••OPV'�ou DEPARTMENT OF STATE CIVIL SERVICE '9'' LOUISIANA BOARD OF ETHICS a q °y: << P.O. BOX 4368 • c BATON ROUGE, LA 70821 °O+Floe+ p`� (225)219-5600 „°,,,,n•••• FAX (225)381-7271 1-800-842-6630 www.ethics.state.la.us February 23, 2012 Mr. Joel Davidson 540 S. Club Avenue St. Gabriel, LA 70776 RE: Board Docket No. 2011-1796 Dear Mr. Davidson: The Louisiana Board of Ethics at its February 17, 2012 Board meeting considered your advisory opinion request regarding whether you would be in violation of the post employment restrictions in the Code of Ethics if you resign as an employee with the Department of Health and Hospitals (DHH),and begin employment with a private company. According to your opinion request,you are currently employed by the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals (DHH) as a Medicaid Manager 4, supervising the section that develops policy for nursing homes, intermediate care facilities, and the Medicaid transportation program. You state that you would not consider yourself an agency head, being that you are not the chief executive of your agency. Although you directly supervise two persons within your office (the Medicaid Manager 2 and Administrative Assistant 5),and indirectly supervise seven staff who report to the Medicaid Manager 2. As Section Chief, you do have input into the hirings/firings, merit increase,promotions, and other disciplinary matters; however, your supervisors have the final say on any of those matters. There are other persons in your office who have supervisory authority over you and the persons you supervise, and you do not have appointing authority. At the direction of the DHH Undersecretary, your responsibilities include assisting in the management of the state plan amendment and associated policy for a supplemental payment program for physicians associated with non-state owned hospitals. You state that you also participated on the team that developed other revenue maximization initiatives for the Medicaid program. These initiatives are designed to enhance statewide health care provider participation in the Medicaid program and increase access to the Medicaid eligible population. Essentially,the initiative you have been working on has been to identify more local dollars to bring in more federal dollars. The program does not focus on any one provider or provider type. There are two private companies with which you are considering employment—Sellers Dorsey out of Philadelphia,PA and Sisung Group out of New Orleans. Neither company has any contracts with AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER