A Missouri health official says the state could need as many as 130 temporary workers to evaluate the needs of thousands of Medicaid patients after an outside contractor quit.
Indiana-based SynCare LLC quit after three months amid complaints about its service and disagreement with Missouri officials.
The director of the state Department of Health and Senior Services testified about the situation Thursday before a Missouri House committee. Margaret Donnelly said 59 temporary workers have been hired so far.
She also said an analysis found it would take 130 workers about 45 days to resolve a backlog of roughly 9,300 cases.
Donnelly says keeping all 130 workers for a full year would cost $8 million, but it is unknown how long the employees will remain on the payroll.
