HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuman Services Board - Minutes - 3/24/2016BAYFIELD COUNTY HUMAN SERVICES BOARD MEETING Bayfield County EOC March 24, 2016 Board Members Present: Fred Strand, Jim Crandall, Pat Carver, Kathy Wendling, John Bennett, Lona Schmidt Board Members Excused: Kent Seldal, Deb Pyne, Rusty Williams, Others Present: Elizabeth Skulan, Nikki Revak, Carrie Linder, Anita Haukaas, Dee Kittleson Call to Order and Introductions Vice-Chair Crandall called the meeting to order at 4:00 p.m. Made introductions. Review of the February 25, 2016 Meeting Minutes Motion by Crandall, seconded by Carver, to approve the February 25, 2016 minutes as presented. Motioned passed unanimously. Public Comment – Limited to 3 minutes per person None Program Presentation, Patient Liability for Medicaid Recipients Residing in a Nursing Home, Jeanine Spuhler, Economic Support Services Manager Spuhler reviewed the Wisconsin Medicaid – Spousal Impoverishment Protection program. This refers to special financial provisions in Medicaid for the Elderly, Blind or Disabled (EBD) law regarding income and assets that affect certain married couples receiving or applying for nursing home or community waiver services. It also applies to Family Care participants who are elderly or have disabilities. Spousal impoverishment protection affects legally married couples when one spouse is in a nursing home or taking part in a community waiver program and the other spouse is not residing in a nursing home or other medical institution for 30 days or more. There are special rules for counting assets and allocating the assets between spouses. The amount of total combined assets at the time of institutionalization determines the total value of assets the couple can retain. In general, if countable assets are $100,000 or less, the community spouse can keep up to $50,000 and the institutionalized spouse can keep up to $2,000. If countable assets are over $100,000, in order to be eligible for Medicaid, the couple must reduce their assets to the allowable limit. Individuals who need assistance should contact the Income Maintenance or Aging and Disability Resource Center in their county of residence for more information. This program protects the community spouse from impoverishment and/or crisis. BAYFIELD COUNTY HUMAN SERVICES BOARD MEETING Bayfield County EOC March 24, 2016 2 Monthly Section Reports Economic Support Services – Jeanine Spuhler Mark Wilson tendered his resignation on March 14th. His last day of employment will be March 27th. The Economic Support Services Section and DHS are very sad to see him leave. There is currently an advertisement for a Limited-Term Employment position (LTE). FSET and ABAWD (FoodShare Employment Training and Abled Body Adults Without Dependents) funds will be available through June 2017 to fund the position. Eligible households that heat with natural gas and/or electricity can receive Wisconsin Home Energy Assistance Program funds. Bayfield County has $5,000 to distribute. Economic Support has been spring-cleaning. Removed furniture and file cabinets from the common areas and purged bookcases of outdated documents. Jeanine noted some items of interest: scads of paper clips and smelling salts from 1977. Economic Support sponsored a 60th birthday celebration for Rosie Kozeneski. She enjoyed the various treats and well wishes. Staffing update: A repeated pattern of absenteeism and failure to report in a timely manner by one worker has led to the next step in the disciplinary procedure. Oral and written reprimands were issues previously. The most recent discipline was a one-day unpaid suspension for the employee. Management will meet with the employee again in 30 days. Family Services – Anita Haukaas Social Work Aide Richard Kamm has assisted in compiling data and information for the Safe and Stable Family report that is due to the state on March 31. Indian Child Welfare (ICW) had jurisdiction on a case but due to a conflict of interest, Bayfield County is assisting with the case. Due to increased caseloads, Family Service Staff are acquiring more compensatory time than they normally would. Red Cliff is in the process of recruiting for an ICW Director. Reportable Statistics:  There were thirteen Tribal Out-of-Home Placements between January and March. Three children reunited with their families.  Two families enrolled in Family Treatment Court. Family Treatment Court team participated in training this week.  At the end of 2015, there were 27 individuals enrolled in the Comprehensive Community Services program. At the end of February, there were 31 individuals enrolled in the program.  At the end of February, there were 16 individuals enrolled in the Community Service Program.  For the period January 1, 2016 to March 15, 2016, there have been 26 Emergency Detentions. BAYFIELD COUNTY HUMAN SERVICES BOARD MEETING Bayfield County EOC March 24, 2016 3  Child Protective Service cases are increasing. The year to date totals for January through March in 2015 were 19; compared to 31 reports for the same time in 2016.  To date, there have been forty-four service reports in 2016.  Haukaas noted that numbers are on the rise across the state. Wending remarked that at a committee meeting for the Sherriff’s Department, the Sheriff said that there are no crisis beds in Bayfield County. Discussion followed. The group talked about the nearest crisis bed; the process for secured transports; resources available when Memorial Medical Center has no beds open, etc. Skulan will invite Carol Lund, Director or Northland Counseling Services to the April meeting to provide more information on the crisis services that they provide. Aging & Disability Services – Carrie Linder Clare Hintz tendered her resignation as a home delivered meal van driver. Clare’s last day was March 10. Erin Clarke accepted the position and started on March 7. Clark shadowed Hintz, which allowed for a seamless transition of services. The Iron River Lions Club and the Aging and Disability Resource Center of the North – Bayfield Branch will sponsor a Health and Wellness Fair Wednesday, April 27 from 9:00 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Iron River Community Center. There will be many activities, services and educational programs offered. There will be two workshops on Mondays, May 16 – June 27 (excluding Memorial Day) at the Barnes Community Center. Living Well with Chronic Conditions will be held from 9:30 to Noon and Healthy Living with Diabetes will be held from 2:00 – 4:30. Vegetarian options are now available at the congregate meal site in Barnes; no one has taken advantage of the vegetarian option yet. The next step will be to offer the vegetarian option to the home delivered meal participants. There was a state file review of the Children’s Long Term Waiver Services program. The review concluded that there were two deficiencies; a failure to give participant families a brochure on how to report suspected child abuse and/or neglect, and missing documentation from a provider that went out of business in May of 2015. Overall, the review was positive. The Youth Transition coordinator is working with Family Services staff on a high needs medically fragile child. A joint staffing was required to facilitate the transition of the child to a treatment facility upon release from the hospital. Scheduled the transition after April 1st. At the March 21st meeting of the Aging and Disability Advisory Committee, the Family Care/IRIS (Include, Respect, I Self-Direct) 2.0 Concept Paper was discussed. At the April Board meeting there will be a Resolution to recommend that the Joint Finance Committee delay adopting the Family Care/IRIS 2.0. concept paper until more detail is made available by the Department of BAYFIELD COUNTY HUMAN SERVICES BOARD MEETING Bayfield County EOC March 24, 2016 4 Health Services (DHS). If approved, the resolution will go to the full County Board for their consideration. Support Services – Nikki Revak Support staff will submit final reports to the state this week and next. The Children’s Long Term Services reconciliation is more detailed than in recent years and more complicated. One staff person is out on vacation. Provider contracts for 2016 are complete. The new DHS support staff are very efficient. We hope to maximize these efficiencies to complete projects that have been less of a priority. Monthly Reports Reviewed the monthly reports and placed them on file. Comprehensive Community Services 2015 Update Skulan reviewed three letters regarding the CCS Program. CCS billed for services provided using a statewide interim Medicaid rate for the program in 2015. An initial reconciliation of the program for the year clearly showed that the provider’s allowable program costs were less than the interim rate. New Horizons seems to think that as a contractor to the program, they should be able to retain more than 100% of their cost. New Horizon’s North has not responded to the letters from Ashland or Bayfield County. As a result, DHS is in the process of recouping funds by withholding funds for services provided in 2016. This will continue until we satisfy the 2015 overage. DHS will then retain 25% of any 2016 MA payments unless or until there is proof that, the CCS allowable program costs exceed 75% of the MA rate in 2016. Comprehensive Community Services Medicaid Audit – January 1, 2015 to October 31, 2015 – Update Skulan reported that DHS has not yet received the audit report/finding. Wage Study Follow Up Issues Skulan met with Patrick Glynn, Mark Abeles-Allison and Kris Kavajecz to review three wage study appeals. Two of the positions were at a level below other similar positions in the courthouse. Carlson Dettman Consulting will make a recommendation to the Personnel Committee regarding the appeals. Skulan also reported that Revak attended the March 7th Personnel Committee Meeting on Skulan’s behalf. A note of concern from meeting was the suggestion that future reclassifications become available based on a quota system. If implemented, there is potential that this will negatively affect morale. Aging and Disability Services Advisory Committee Appointment – Kathryn Grafsgaard Linder stated that Haukaas had given Grafsgaard’s name as a possible candidate for the Aging and Disability Services Advisory Committee appointment. Grafsgaard has a background in nutrition. The Aging and Disability Services Advisory Committee reviewed the application on BAYFIELD COUNTY HUMAN SERVICES BOARD MEETING Bayfield County EOC March 24, 2016 5 Monday, March 21, 2016 and recommended that the Human Services committee approve the appointment. Motion by Schmidt, second by Carver, to approve the appointment of Kathryn Grafsgaard to the Aging and Disability Services Advisory Committee. Motion passed unanimously. Other (Informational Items) A. Email to Ann Marie Mackin B WCHSA Spring Conference in Elk Hart Lake  Please contact Heather to register Future Meetings A. April 28, 2016 B. May 26, 2016 C. June 23 (Meeting and Public Hearing for Input on the 2017 Budget) Adjournment The meeting adjourned at 5:30 p. m., Submitted by Nikki Revak, Financial Manager