Woman claims discrimination at company that provides mental health treatment

CHARLOTTE — A local behavioral health provider is speaking out with claims of retaliation and a lack of transparency against Cardinal Innovations.

The company coordinates mental and behavioral health treatment for Mecklenburg County.

Stephanie Tyson claims that when she started to speak up with concerns that minority providers were paid less, Cardinal Innovations stopped doing business with her.

“It is about cultural sensitivity and cultural competence,” Tyson said. “You have to be able to understand someone’s culture. So, when we raised those issues, there are retaliations (with) no authorizations and no referrals.”

Tyson filed lawsuit seeking records like executive pay, provider rates and lobbying expenses.

[Cardinal Innovations funding change results in dozens not receiving Mobile Crisis help]

In statements today, Cardinal Innovations said, “In regards to the referenced complaint, Cardinal Innovations Healthcare has been responsive to and compliant with the public records and any allegations to the contrary are meritless and not borne out by facts. Within two weeks of the original request made on July 23, 2020, we provided more than 2,000 pages of documents. Moreover, we have subsequently produced hundreds of additional pages and our personnel have been in regular contact with Ms. Tyson’s legal counsel to respond to the public records request, which is expansive. Our focus is on quality, clinical best practices and cultural competent care. Any suggestion that we discriminate based on race or gender is both baseless and offensive to our entire team, who works tirelessly to ensure that our members get the care they need. Discrimination is also impossible, as we don’t collect demographical data on providers and have no basis to do so.”

This isn’t the first time Cardinal has been under the microscope.

In February, Mecklenburg County commissioners expressed major concerns over delays in treatment for children and cuts in crisis team funding.

Eight months later, Channel 9 found the county is still having issues addressing the needs of kids and adults.

“I am very concerned as a county commissioner,” said Susan Hardin, commissioner. “We have a significant homeless population, and often there are mental health challenges that overlap with that. So, we need a strong mental health provider.”

A Cardinal spokesperson said, “We are actively engaged with county leaders, YFS leaders and adult services teams to discuss action plans, review progress and discuss ongoing collaboration activities to address the needs of the community. Just since January, we have added almost 100 Therapeutic Foster Care Homes and continue to improve and expand our network of providers across a wide spectrum of services. We are currently developing a new model of care for children in DSS/DJJ custody and Mecklenburg County is one of six counties actively engaged in the development of and advising how this program will benefit children in custody.”

Hardin said she wants to see improvements fast, and fears vulnerable patients aren’t getting care.

“Will Cardinal make good on their promises and has the level of service improved? Or, do we need to expand our search for another provider?” she asked.

North Carolina DHHS is holding a virtual town hall about behavioral health that will include Cardinal Innovations at 6 p.m. Thursday.

[INFO: Virtual town hall for behavioral health and I/DD with Cardinal Innovations Healthcare]

They want to hear from consumers, families and advocates.