Court records identify the culprit to be Yolonda Farrar. Farrar a registered nurse, who worked for DHS, in their Division of Medical Services Payment Integrity Unit as a Coding Analyst with an annual salary of around $64k per year.
TEFRA is a category of Medicaid that provides care to disabled children in their homes rather than in institutions. To qualify for TEFRA
benefits, the child must be disabled according to the Supplemental
Security Income (SSI) definition of disability and must meet the
medical-necessity requirement for institutional care. Children who live
in institutions or who receive extended care in institutions are not
eligible in the TEFRA category.
We have requested information about Farrar from DHS and expect to have it early next week (expect an update).
Farrar appears to have also gotten sideways with the Arkansas State Board of Nursing ("ASBN").
Farrar's Linked in profile has a striking gap from 2004 through 2014 and we believe that we will find that she was possibly terminated from some organization as a result of the infraction.
Farrar appears to have worked at DHS from 2013 until they fired her in 2015.
However, the state transparency website still has her as working at DHS. Her Linkedin resume states she is currently employed at the Arkansas Office of the Medicaid Inspector General.
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Farrar has filed a discrimination lawsuit in Federal Court.
You can view the full complaint by clicking here.
In this suit she claims that her supervisor, John Parke, was too friendly with her and discriminated against her and that when she complained she was fired.
Parke got his job as a political payoff from Governor Asa Hutchinson as Parke had no experience whatsoever for the position - a standard trademark of many of Hutchinson appointments.
You can read the full story as posted on the Arkansas Times - Arkansas Blog.
DHS answered that complaint pages of denials.
You can view their answer by clicking here.
DHS was reviewing Farrar's email account in preparation for the lawsuit when they discovered that Farrar sent spreadsheets containing information (names, SSN's, etc) of around 26,000 individuals to her personal email address.
It is unclear at this point in time why Farrar did that, but it was against DHS police/procedures and probably several state and federal statutes.
DHS has stated that they have filed a complaint with the Pulaski County Prosecuting Attorney and we suspect that a warrant for her arrest is only a matter of days from being issued.
Stay tuned for updates.
***UPDATE-9/18/17***
We received a prompt response from the Arkansas State Board of Nursing and those records provide some interesting information.
You can view the entire file by clicking here.
It seems that Farrar had a criminal history that she failed to include in her examination application. She had been convicted of Battery in Wisconsin.
Farrar was ordered to pay $2,754.74 in restitution to the victim.
Farrar never made any payments towards the restitution and it was still owed in 2011 when the ASBN contacted the Wisconsin court.
DHS has not yet provided us with a response to the FOI request we sent to them or to emails asking if they were aware of Farrar's criminal history when they hired her.
Stayed tuned for more updates.
***UPDATE 9/21/17***
Records obtained from DHS indicate after Farrar was fired from her position in the payment unit she was hired by the Arkansas State Hospital (which is under DHS control) and then fired a second time.
***UPDATE-9/18/17***
We received a prompt response from the Arkansas State Board of Nursing and those records provide some interesting information.
You can view the entire file by clicking here.
It seems that Farrar had a criminal history that she failed to include in her examination application. She had been convicted of Battery in Wisconsin.
Farrar was ordered to pay $2,754.74 in restitution to the victim.
Farrar never made any payments towards the restitution and it was still owed in 2011 when the ASBN contacted the Wisconsin court.
DHS has not yet provided us with a response to the FOI request we sent to them or to emails asking if they were aware of Farrar's criminal history when they hired her.
Stayed tuned for more updates.
***UPDATE 9/21/17***
Records obtained from DHS indicate after Farrar was fired from her position in the payment unit she was hired by the Arkansas State Hospital (which is under DHS control) and then fired a second time.
