AUGUSTA – Department of Health and Human Services Commissioner Mary Mayhew has appointed Robert “Jay” Harper, a veteran of state government, as the acting superintendent at Riverview Psychiatric Center in Augusta. The appointment comes on the heels of Mayhew terminating former Riverview Superintendent Mary Louise McEwen earlier this month for unspecified reasons. Riverview is a […]
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Posted inMaine, sj-web
Former Maine DHHS worker gets 9 months in jail for stealing benefits
ROCKLAND — A former Maine Department of Health and Human Services worker was sentenced Thursday to nine months in jail after admitting to stealing nearly $50,000 in benefits over nearly a five-year period. Ashley S. Carleton, 29, of Rockport was sentenced by Justice Andrew Horton for felony theft and aggravated forgery. The judge imposed a […]
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DHHS fires head of Riverview Psychiatric Center
AUGUSTA — Riverview Psychiatric Center Superintendent Mary Louise McEwen has been terminated after five years on the job, according to Department of Health and Human Services Commissioner Mary Mayhew. “In evaluating where Riverview Psychiatric Center is today and our vision for the hospital moving forward, I felt that a change in leadership gave us the […]
Posted inLewiston-Auburn
Group to look into child care licensing, regulation
AUGUSTA — The Legislature’s Government Oversight Committee on Friday directed a watchdog group to look into how Maine licenses and regulates child care providers. The issue was raised by State Sen. Margaret Craven, D-Lewiston, and State Rep. Richard Farnsworth, D-Portland, co-chairs of the Health and Human Services Committee. Craven is also a member of the […]
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LePage administration continues campaign against Medicaid expansion
Agriculture Commissioner Walter Whitcomb said the state’s natural resource agencies — Agriculture, Conservation, Marine Resources, Environmental Protection, and Inland Fisheries and Wildlife — had lost $13 million in state funding in just five years, a reduction he attributes to regular annual shortfalls in the the Department of Health and Human Services, which administers MaineCare. “We […]
Posted inLewiston-Auburn
CDC office manager asks to join whistle-blower suit
RELATED NEWS: Lawmakers vote to subpoena Maine CDC officials involved in document-shredding probe A Maine Center of Disease Control & Prevention office manager wants to join the whistle-blower lawsuit filed by a former Maine CDC division director. And the suit plans to accuse additional CDC officials — Deputy Director Christine Zukas and Office of Minority Health […]
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Lawmakers vote to subpoena Maine CDC officials involved in document-shredding probe
AUGUSTA — Lawmakers on the Government Oversight Committee voted Friday to subpoena officials at the Maine Center for Disease Control & Prevention to appear before the committee. The committee had invited five CDC officials to provide information Friday about the destruction of public records, including Director Sheila Pinette, Deputy Director Christine Zukas, Office of Minority […]
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Lawmakers say online MaineCare application is too intrusive
AUGUSTA — Some Maine lawmakers say questions for single parents on the state’s online application for Medicaid are too intrusive and should be eliminated. Single parents applying for MaineCare coverage are being asked personal questions, including where their child was conceived and the reason the other parent is absent. Democratic state Rep. Richard Farnsworth of […]
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Maine expands program for problem gamblers
AUGUSTA — A program meant to help problem gamblers stay out of Maine’s two casinos is expanding, according to the state’s Office of Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services and the Maine Gambling Control Board. Working with Hollywood Casino in Bangor and Oxford Casino in Oxford, the agencies are adding to the places people can […]
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Maine Democrats craft bill to cancel $925,000 welfare study
AUGUSTA — Democrats on the Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee introduced a bill Monday that would cancel a nearly $1 million contract signed by Republican Gov. Paul LePage’s administration with a controversial welfare consultant, the Alexander Group. In September 2013, the LePage administration contracted with the group, headed by former Pennsylvania and Rhode Island […]