Thousands of Wash. kids waiting for new eyeglasses

Nine-year-old Kiera Williams is among thousands of Washington children enrolled in the state's Medicaid program who have waited months for new eyeglasses.

"Sometimes, during recess, I can't really play because I don't feel well," the Spokane fourth-grader said. "I'm lucky, though, to have such good friends who sit with me."

Her mother isn't as patient, of course. Kiera has been waiting since late August for new glasses. She needs bifocals to read books.

Kiera has a rare disease and takes medication. She gets headaches from squinting to read the teacher's lessons written on a whiteboard or trying to see things across the the classroom.

"This entire thing is outrageous," Lori Williams told The Spokesman-Review. "My daughter shouldn't have had to be going to school without glasses now three months and counting. We don't have a lot of money, and we're doing the best we can."

The glasses backlog in the state can be traced to new security protocols and computer software at the Airway Heights Corrections Center. At the center, inmates work in a state-run optical lab to make every lens and frame for poor people served by the state's subsidized insurance program.

In November, the backlog of eyeglass orders peaked at 12,000. That's for both children and adults.

MaryAnne Lindeblad, a division director in the state Department of Social and Health Services who monitors the Medicaid vision benefit, acknowledged complaints from optometrists have been climbing. DSHS has encouraged the prison program to cut the long delays.

Jim Parker, the general manager of Correctional Industries, the prison's work program, said the problems have been solved and the wait times drastically cut. As of last Thursday, Parker said the Medicaid backlog had been reduced to about 1,800 pairs of glasses for children and adults.

But Parker said some of the most complicated prescriptions are enshared by the wait.

David Hays, a Tacoma area optometrist who is a liaison for the Optometric Physicians of Washington in its dealings with the DSHS, said, "Murphy's Law seems to attach itself to certain patients."

Hays said he knows DSHS is upset by the backlog and has put Parker's program on notice.

"They truly view the children and adults in the Medicaid program as clients," Hays said. "My feeling is that in January, if the problem isn't solved, DSHS will simply have to find another provider."

Hays said he hopes the optical program can rebound from a tough year.

"Things were a mess and yes it was bad," he said. "What we need now is to know that it has been fixed and won't happen again."

The prison's optical lab has made glasses since 1997. By law, the state is required to contract with the prison program, which employs 65 inmates who earn between 45 cents and $1.50 an hour. The lab makes 700 pairs of glasses every day or about 150,000 pairs a year.

Parker and prison officials this year saw potential problems with inmates having access to limited patient records. But Parker emphasized that no patient's privacy was ever breached.

Although names and identifying information from doctors' offices were erased from paperwork that inmates entered into computers, Parker said the decision was made to stop having inmates perform data entry as of June.

"The old adage, 'If it could happen it might' - well, we wanted to get rid of the 'might,'" Parker said.

Temporary staff began typing in order information, but problems ensued and the backlog grew. By August, more than 10,000 orders were backlogged. Parker said he hired more people, but the training curve and rigorous state hiring guidelines took time.

It wasn't until mid-October that Parker had a trained, full staff.

"In hindsight, sure, we would do some things differently." he said, "We would have had a staff in place."

Rosalind Knox, a contracts specialist for the Office of State Procurements, said her office has administered the prison contract for 10 years. The latest contract, a two-year pact valued at $6.8 million, expires in October. Knox said she was confident the problems will be resolved and the contract renewed.

She said the prison optical program has delivered excellent service and held down costs.

The average pair of glasses made by inmates costs $20 rather than the $300 to $400 charged by private labs.

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Information from: The Spokesman-Review, http://www.spokesmanreview.com