Human Services Committee

DATE: February 6, 2006
TIME: 5:00 p.m.
PLACE:
County Board Room
Baraboo, WI

Members Present: Alexander, Stoeckmann, Earl, Dippel, Bowers, Endres, Fordham

Members Excused: Vertein, Vaillancourt

Members Absent: None

Others Present: Orth, Brattset, Horkan, Boesl, Zeller

Chair Alexander called the meeting to order and certified compliance with the Open Meeting Law.

Motion by Dippel, seconded by Fordham to adopt the agenda. Chair Alexander agreed to move Item K. on the agenda to the first item to be discussed. Motion Carried.

Motion by Stoeckmann, seconded by Bowers to approve the minutes of the previous meeting.
Motion Carried.

Communications:

None

Business Items:

  1. Review and Approval of Monthly Vouchers: Horkan distributed the monthly voucher reports and Endres discussed community residential dollars being up due to 12/05 being reconciled. Institutional dollars were down due to credit from Mendota for a miss billed situation. Energy assistance was somewhat up due to 12/05 being a cold month. Accounts Receivable will go up when these are received in the future. Motion by Endres, seconded by Bowers to approve monthly vouchers in the amount of $1,579,596.25.
    Motion Carried.
  2. Medicaid Transportation Management Initiative: Orth spoke about concerns that statewide directors and WCHSA have about the suggestions the state is making in the Medicaid Transportation Management Initiative. Orth noted that he doesn't think that a response can go to the state until the state answers questions that WCHSA has asked about transitions. Orth believes these state effort is an effort to get increased federal money and gain efficiencies.

Department Updates:

  1. High Cost Cases-Mental Health/AODA: Boesl and Zeller spoke about trends in mental health and AODA commitment and voluntary services. Identified was the fact that there are a number of high risk populations to include duel diagnosis, (mental health, AODA, and other diagnosis), developmentally disabled and mental health, and dementia clients who are elderly. In addition, another population is known clients to be chronically mentally ill. Boesl noted that institutional charges have gone up with limited funds to support clients who are hospitalized. Zeller reviewed the rates from the various psychiatric units and noted that in the last year there have been some changes, particularly with Boscobel Hospital with a decrease in beds, shorter length of stays and therefore transferring cases to Mendota. Boesl spoke about the idea of contracting for an adult family home crisis bed as a means to prevent hospitalization, when appropriate. This could also be used as a transition post-hospitalization to return to community resources. Brattset spoke about the use of collaborative forum and team approach in high risk cases. Boesl spoke about increased efforts to involve family members in cases that in the past sometimes were challenged by client isolation.
  2. Long Term Care Redesign: Orth noted that there has been no news on the Request for Information from the state regarding the proposals for Long Term Care Redesign. There will be more announcements in the following weeks. There has been a suggestion of the expansion of Family Care made by Governor Doyle. Orth indicated that the state has made comments that there will be full entitlement within five years, however, there is not clarity as to the details of this as of this date.
  3. Program Enhancement Plan - Federal Reviewers: Orth spoke about child protective services and the Program Enhancement Plan (PEP). He indicated that the out of home care committee has met with the federal reviewers and updated on the PEP. Reviewers seemed pleased, according to Orth, with the progress that the state has made in regard to child protective services. Orth further noted that he feels the federal reviewers seem less rigid on issues and more realistic with content and timelines. Orth asked the federal reviewers when they expected to return, they were unsure at this time.
  4. Personnel Updates: Orth noted that Stephanie Box has been promoted to Staff Accountant. Currently, there are recruiting efforts for a full time R.N. in Personal Care and Social Worker for ICFMR position in Long Term Support. These positions were approved by Personnel Committee and pending hiring.
  5. Quality Services Review - February 13-17 St. Croix County: Orth reported that he would be out as previously described next week, February 13-17 at St. Croix County doing a quality review. Orth indicated he would be available by phone and will bring a laptop with him.
  6. 2005 Annual Report: Orth indicated that the annual reporting format is the same as last year and that he is near completion with this report. Orth will send a copy when it is complete.
  7. Ho-Chunk Meetings Update: Orth noted that meetings with Ho-Chunk Nation have been conducted in the past nine months. Efforts to reach resolution on a specific child protective services case have been made as well as working on a Memorandum of Understanding for future use. This Memorandum would help clarify potential conflicts in TPR cases and provide greater efficiency in accessing services. In addition, there is the potential of joint training in March of 2006.
  8. ICFMR Downsizing Update: Orth reported that the state has projected originally $140 per day for counties to deal with the ICFMR downsizing. Counties were concerned about that figure previously and the state agreed to take full costs, which are now estimated to be at $200 per day. Future updates on this topic will be provided.
  9. Department Head Functional Group Meetings: Orth reported that there have been several Department Head Functional Group Meetings and they have gone well. Orth indicated that in these two meetings they have discussed the planning committee for the Health Care Center and have summarized information regarding forwarding to future planning committee.
  10. CCS Grant: Brattset reported that the CCS grant, written by Boesl and Brattset was approved at $40,000. An initial letter has been sent to notify Sauk County Department of Human Services of the award with details to be forthcoming in the next several weeks after a period for potential appeals has passed. The budget on the proposed grant would include stipends for consumer focus group to identify potential service needs, stipends for consumer involvement on a coordination committee, consumer transportation, and about $20,000 for staff/consumer training. This is a one time startup grant without match requirements. Motion by Endres, seconded by Dippel to adjourn.
    Motion Carried.
  11. Homelessness Update : Brattset reported that there continues to be a collaborative coalition meeting to discuss homelessness in Sauk County. Currently data is being tracked by CWCAC and the assistant line for homelessness is being staffed by St. Clare Center. Next steps will include continuing to collect data and summarizing this data in an effort to identify volume and patterns. A meeting will then take place between St. Vincent DePaul, Sauk-Prairie, LSS, and Sauk County Department of Human Services to discuss options for sheltering. Orth noted that Homeless Haven had opened in Reedsburg and will be open until July 2006 in a temporary location. In addition, there are church groups continuing to discuss shelter options as well as mentoring programs for the homeless.

The next meeting of the Sauk County Human Services Board is scheduled for Monday, March 6, 2006 at 5:00 p.m.

Resepctfully Submitted: Scott Alexander