Recently in Social Services Category

Source: By Bob Caylor, whose daughter was in First Steps, for the editorial board, Knight Ridder Tribune,
May. 12, 2006

Parents, teachers and children make a better team with service coordinators. By outsourcing the management of its program to help infants and toddlers who are disabled or developmentally delayed, the state has embarked on a risky experiment. The cost of its failure would be children losing precious months or years of intensive help when that help would do the most good. In Allen County, the experiment means that a Muncie company, Achieva Inc., will take over the administration of the state’s First Steps program. In this, as in many other social services, the administration of Gov. Mitch Daniels is trying to save money by privatizing work formerly done by state employees. Hoosiers should be willing to see whether this approach works, but they ought to be cautious and quick to call for improvements if these children younger than 3 aren’t getting the early intervention and therapy they should. ….. The problem: Service coordinators, who oversee the services provided to each child, are expected to take on a much larger caseload – perhaps 80 children per coordinator, instead of 40 or 50, as The News-Sentinel’s Jennifer Boen reported this week.

Source: By Mary Beth Schneider, Indianapolis Star (IN), May 10, 2006

After a week of rejecting complaints, the state on Tuesday canceled a controversial deal that let a top state official resign his $100,000 job, then do the same work for the state as a contractor for $180,000 a year. Richard Rhoad, the chief financial officer of Indiana's Family and Social Services Administration, will return to his job at the state agency. Harry Gonso, chief of staff to Gov. Mitch Daniels, said in a statement that Daniels agreed the move is "appropriate and necessary." …… The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees -- the main labor organization for state employees, although they have no bargaining power -- issued a statement saying the episode shows "the Daniels' administration only plays by the rules after they get caught with their hand in the public jar."

Source: Guillermo X. Garcia, San Antonio Express-News (TX), 05/10/2006 12:00 AM CDT

Effective immediately, state workers again will be responsible for processing applications for assistance programs such as food stamps and Medicaid after myriad problems resulted with the private company hired to do the job. Bermuda-based Accenture LLP won an $899 million, five-year contract early last year to take over the state's public assistance eligibility system. The switch comes about as state Health and Human Services officials acknowledge flaws with several components of the system, which is supposed to help applicants compile the information that's used to determine eligibility for public assistance programs.

Source: Niki Kelly, The Journal Gazette (IN), May 4, 2006

The Indiana Democratic Party on Wednesday asked Indiana’s government corruption watchdog to investigate a state contract with a Fort Wayne businessman who they claim outsourced his state job to himself to nearly double his pay. The move came just days after The Journal Gazette reported the agreement between Richard E. Rhoad and the Family and Social Services Administration. ….. Beside the Democratic Party complaint, the Rhoad contract was criticized by union officials. “The governor is certainly running Indiana government like a corporate executive would run a corporation,” said David Patterson, spokesman for AFSCME Council 62. “Executive pay goes up while hard-working employees get the shaft.”

Source: By Jim McElhatton, THE WASHINGTON TIMES, May 3, 2006

Federal authorities have begun a criminal investigation of Maximus Inc. in the wake of a lawsuit claiming that the Reston-based consulting giant overcharged the government tens of millions of dollars while working for the District's foster care agency, unsealed court records and other official files show. The investigation follows a federal False Claims Act lawsuit that says Maximus lacked proper documentation for most of the more than $30 million in Medicaid claims the company prepared for the D.C. government, starting in 1999.

..... Maximus derives nearly 80 percent of its revenue from state and local contracts covering a broad range of government services, including tracking down deadbeat parents, managing child welfare programs and implementing public retirement benefit systems. The company finds itself in the wake of a management shake-up. It announced last week the firing of Chief Executive Lynn Davenport, citing unspecified conduct toward a former female employee.

Source: Elizabeth Allen, San Antonio Express-News (TX), 04/20/2006 12:00 AM CDT

San Antonio has been selected to lead the state in inaugurating a program that hands over foster care and adoption management from a state agency to local nonprofit groups. Eventually, the state says, it plans to turn over all foster child-care and adoption procedures to the community-based groups. The local operation, which would be fully functional by the end of 2007, will be the regional center for 27 counties. The state's move away from direct involvement was not unexpected; already nearly four out of five children in foster care in Texas are in community-based, mostly church-related programs.

Source: By Jerd Smith, Rocky Mountain News (CO), April 19, 2006

A new state computer system that processes food stamps and other welfare benefits has had "unacceptable" error rates that could cost Colorado $10 million, according to a state audit released Tuesday morning. Officials from the Department of Human Services and the Department of Health Care Policy and Finance said the majority of the problems have been corrected and that recurring ones are the result of ongoing computer glitches and errors by county workers who operate what's known as the Colorado Benefits Management System. …… Roxane White, director of Denver's social services department, said the audit lays too much of the fault for CBMS glitches at the feet of county workers and failed to consider the herculean efforts they were making to ensure that people going without benefits received them, even if it meant creating an error report.

[Contractor: EDS]

Source: By POLLY ROSS HUGHES, Houston Chronicle,April 18, 2006, 11:36AM

AUSTIN - Angry House budget writers demanded Monday to know if the state will consider firing a new private contractor — or barring it from other state jobs — if its staffers continue bumping eligible Texans from health and welfare services. The contract with Texas Access Alliance, headed by outsourcing giant Accenture LLP, is part of a major overhaul of eligibility screening of social services for children, the elderly, disabled and poor. While lawmakers once were told the project would save the state $646 million over five years, that's now in doubt.

Source: By POLLY ROSS HUGHES, Houston Chronicle (TX), April 11, 2006

AUSTIN - Enrollment in the Children's Health Insurance Program dropped last month for the fourth time in a row as officials announced a $3 million program to educate families on how to keep their children insured. CHIP enrollment as of April 1 dropped to just under 293,000 from an adjusted 302,000 one month earlier, according to data released Tuesday by the Texas Health and Human Services Commission. ..... The drop has alarmed children's advocates because Texas has the highest rate of uninsured children in the nation, with one in four children lacking health coverage. ...... The state also restored coverage to 6,000 children last month because the new contractor, a consortium led by outsourcing giant Accenture, failed to tell families about the fees.

Source: By Corrie MacLaggan, AMERICAN-STATESMAN (TX), Thursday, April 06, 2006

…….. State officials have put on hold a controversial call-in system for Texans to apply for food stamps and Medicaid, Health and Human Services Executive Commissioner Albert Hawkins announced Wednesday. Hawkins is calling for better training for the system's private-sector customer service representatives and improvements in how data from applications are tracked. Officials will re-evaluate the system's readiness in 30 days, to ensure that call center employees are better able to resolve complicated cases, he said.