Legislature(2015 - 2016)HOUSE FINANCE 519
03/17/2015 07:30 AM House LEGISLATIVE BUDGET & AUDIT
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| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| Hearing: Public Input on the Department of Health and Social Services Performance Review. | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
LEGISLATIVE BUDGET AND AUDIT COMMITTEE
March 17, 2015
7:37 a.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Representative Mike Hawker, Chair
Representative Lance Pruitt
Representative Sam Kito
Senator Cathy Giessel
MEMBERS ABSENT
Senator Anna MacKinnon, Vice Chair
Senator Lyman Hoffman
Senator Bert Stedman
Senator Click Bishop
Senator Pete Kelly (alternate)
Representative Kurt Olson
Representative Steve Thompson
Representative Mark Neuman (alternate)
OTHER LEGISLATORS PRESENT
Representative Lora Reinbold
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
HEARING: PUBLIC INPUT ON THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND SOCIAL
SERVICES PERFORMANCE REVIEW.
PREVIOUS COMMITTEE ACTION
No previous action to record
WITNESS REGISTER
JIM WALDINGER, Manager
Public Consulting Group (PCG)
Boston, Massachusetts
POSITION STATEMENT: Introduced his group during the public
comments on the Department of Health and Social Services
performance review.
SHARI HOLLAND
Public Works
Austin, Texas
POSITION STATEMENT: Introduced her group during the public
comments on the Department of Health and Social Services
performance review.
GAYLE TRIVETTE
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified during the public comments on the
Department of Health and Social Services performance review.
SAM TRIVETTE
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified during the public comments on the
Department of Health and Social Services performance review.
PATRICK CUNNINGHAM, Chair
Denali Family Services
Anchorage, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified during the public comments on the
Department of Health and Social Services performance review.
ACTION NARRATIVE
7:37:30 AM
CHAIR MIKE HAWKER called the Legislative Budget and Audit
Committee meeting to order at 7:37 a.m. Representatives Hawker
and Kito were present at the call to order. Representative
Pruitt and Senator Giessel arrived as the meeting was in
progress. Also in attendance was Representative Reinbold.
^HEARING: Public Input on the Department of Health and Social
Services Performance Review.
HEARING: Public Input on the Department of Health and Social
Services Performance Review.
7:37:54 AM
CHAIR HAWKER announced that the only order of business would be
a hearing for public input on the Department of Health and
Social Services performance review of behavioral health
services, long-term care services, and the department's overall
organizational and administrative structure. He pointed out
that it was not required for the committee to have a quorum to
conduct this testimony, as it was not taking any formal
legislative action.
CHAIR HAWKER explained that the passage of House Bill 30 a few
years prior had placed into statute a provision that the
Division of Legislative Audit shall conduct performance reviews
of appropriate programs and agencies of state government on a
recurring basis. He noted that the statute provided for a cycle
of the state agencies, with the first being the Department of
Corrections, which had been reviewed in 2014. He reported that
the current performance review would be for the Department of
Health and Social Services, and in 2016, the Department of
Education and Early Development would be reviewed. He explained
that the process for these performance reviews as provided in AS
44.66.020(b) was for the Division of Legislative Audit to hire
individuals and contract with individuals or firms to form a
review team or teams to complete these reviews. He shared that
the legislative auditor had arranged for two organizations to
work on the review of the Department of Health and Social
Services. He directed attention to AS 44.66.040(a)(2) which
detailed the duties of the review team, that through the
Legislative Budget and Audit Committee, the Senate Finance
Committee, or the House Finance Committee public hearings shall
be scheduled in Juneau, Fairbanks, Anchorage, and other
locations as determined by the committees to review agency
activities and identify problems and concerns. He reported that
this meeting had been noticed a few weeks prior in order to
satisfy the statutory requirement for a public hearing in Juneau
to allow the opportunity to comment on activities, problems, or
concerns with the Department of Health and Social Services. He
stated that similar public hearings would be conducted in
Anchorage and Fairbanks sometime shortly after the end of this
current legislative session.
7:41:39 AM
JIM WALDINGER, Manager, Public Consulting Group (PCG), shared
(via teleconference) that his consulting firm had been "around
for about 28 years now focusing almost exclusively on government
work, mostly in the health and human services arena." He
reported that his group worked closely with Medicaid, behavioral
health, and long term care systems. He reported that both the
long term care and the behavioral health system teams were also
participating in the meeting today, via teleconference. He
reported that his consulting group had been travelling around
Alaska for the past month, meeting with state staff and
providers in urban, rural, and remote rural areas, in order to
get a good cross section analysis of these systems. He stated
that the group had more trips planned for late March and April
to meet with additional staff and providers. He explained that
the group would then take this information and formulate its
recommendations. He shared that the state staff and providers
had been "extremely co-operative with us both in scheduling and
meetings and they've been quite forthcoming with information
about the programs."
7:44:39 AM
SHARI HOLLAND, Public Works, shared that her group had been
hired to do a review on the administrative and organizational
structure of the Department of Health and Social Services. She
stated that Public Works worked exclusively with state and local
governments throughout the country doing these types of
performance reviews. She reported that they had "extensive
experience with health and human services" and they were also in
the process of conducting its field work, interviewing staff
throughout the department and reviewing this information.
7:45:37 AM
CHAIR HAWKER clarified that this was a performance review of the
organization, activities, quality of services, and ability to
deliver the expected services by the Department of Health and
Social Services, and it was not a budget hearing. He offered
for anyone to submit written testimony regarding the Department
of Health and Social Services.
7:47:16 AM
CHAIR HAWKER opened public testimony.
7:47:59 AM
GAYLE TRIVETTE reported that, although she was representing
herself, she was a volunteer member of the Juneau Suicide
Prevention Coalition. She stated that she was "a survivor of
Alaska suicide," and had participated in the coalition since its
formation as a voluntary, grass roots organization, in 2008.
She declared it to be a vibrant coalition dedicated to suicide
prevention, and its participants included Juneau Youth Services,
Juneau Alliance for Mental Health, Inc. (JAMHI), Catholic
Community Services, Rotary Club, Tlingit & Haida Central
Council, and Bartlett Hospital. She shared her experiences with
grant and technical support from the Division of Behavioral
Health. She said that the first three years of funding for the
coalition were supported by a prevention grant from the
division, and administered by the Juneau School District with a
primary goal for establishing and administering the signs of
suicide, education, and screening programs which were considered
to be the most effective program of its type. She pointed to
the website developed by the coalition,
JuneauSuicidePrevention.org, which educated the public about
suicide and the local resources, followed by a broader website,
generalmentalhealth.org, which included a comprehensive list of
information regarding mental illness, as well as all the mental
health providers in Juneau. She stated that the volume of
traffic on these websites had increased dramatically. She
reported that a wide array of public service advertisements and
the Alaska Careline phone number had been distributed on city
buses, in activity booklets, on theater screens, and on
brochures, pins, wallet cards, and sport bags. She relayed that
the council had developed and offered free public suicide
education and prevention training and collaborated with the
SEARCC suicide prevention coalition. She shared that they had
helped develop an extensive process for a community plan for
effective response following a suicide. She reported that the
group had published a brochure, Surviving After a Sudden Loss.
She explained that their second three-year prevention grant had
been administered by the Juneau Youth Services, and had helped
continue the work started under the first grant, while adding
the Sources of Strength Youth Resilience Building program, work
in the middle schools, and increasing its training programs and
advertising. She lauded the excellent help and advice which the
coalition had received from the Division of Behavioral Health.
She shared that the coalition had been recognized statewide for
its widespread community collaboration and its creative and
effective suicide prevention efforts. She expressed shock for
the latest prevention grant parameters, which did not allow the
use of grant funds to support the ongoing suicide prevention
initiatives, until a complex and time consuming community wide
research project was completed. She reported that the work had
been submitted and the coalition was waiting for a response from
the division. She noted that the coalition had been able to
secure private, one-time funding to keep the Sources of Strength
program going in the high schools, although currently there was
not a presence in the middle schools or any financial support
for the Signs of Suicide program. She concluded that these once
thriving initiatives were "languishing and limping along with
volunteer efforts."
SAM TRIVETTE shared that he was also a survivor of suicide and,
although he was an active participant in the coalition, he was
speaking on his own behalf and not as a representative of the
coalition. He reported that, as he had worked for more than 10
years as a manager in the Department of Health and Social
Services, he was quite familiar with the department. He lauded
the successful collaboration with the Division of Behavioral
Health for the past six years, but he expressed his frustration
with the management to the current 2015 prevention grant
program. He reported that his requests for information had
brought him very little satisfaction. He explained that there
were about 20 different grantees during this funding cycle, and
there had not been any distinction between new grantees and
those who had functioned for many years at a high level. He
stated that the coalition, even with its extensive successful
history, had to start at ground zero for this grant funding. He
reported that his request for acknowledgement of the prior work
by the council and allowance to move forward had been refused.
He expressed understanding that new information and research
would become available from time to time, and that it would be
necessary to modify services using this new information. He
pointed out that this had been a regular system for the past six
years. He declared that the group applauded performance based
management and funding, but opined that the division had not
been utilizing the data submitted by the coalition over the past
six years in making an evaluation for its current work. He
suggested that the current requirements by the division were for
process, and not progress or outcomes. He offered an example of
a required memorandum of agreement with the Careline, a suicide
prevention telephone hot line, which the coalition had
successfully worked with for many years. He relayed some
background regarding the five step planning process for grant
applications, and the seven month lag in receiving a copy of the
process. He offered his belief that the imposition of a
management structure that did not reflect a daily reality set up
the suicide prevention coalition for failure. He reminded that
the coalition was staffed by volunteers from the community, and
that roadblocks would lead to its collapse. He stated that
support and treatment as a mature coalition would allow for
continuance of quality prevention and support services to
Alaskans. In response to Chair Hawker, he acknowledged that the
anecdotal paperwork he offered for exhibit did not need to be
entered into the public record.
7:58:20 AM
PATRICK CUNNINGHAM, Chair, Denali Family Services, explained
that Denali Family Services provided services to mentally ill
children and their families. He shared that he was also the
president of the Narcotic Drug Treatment Center, which provided
services to individuals addicted to opium or heroin. He relayed
that both of his agencies worked very closely with the Division
of Behavioral Health. He declared that the relationship with
the division had always been "outstanding," with excellent
cooperation in the award of numerous grants. He shared that he
was also a professor of social work at University of Alaska
Anchorage (UAA). He explained that there was an issue for the
reimbursement for services. He stated that Xerox had created
havoc within the agencies, noting that his agency had $1.5
million in accounts receivable, and that there were constant
requests by Xerox to resubmit and send additional information.
He expressed hope that money from the supplemental budget would
allow Xerox to catch up, while sharing that many smaller
agencies had been forced to close. He stated that his agencies
also had waiting lists. He reported that his agency could serve
"a great deal more people that are addicted to opium that want
treatment, that are on our list for treatment, but can't afford
the services." He declared that it would be wonderful if they
could be covered under Medicaid, noting that current support for
their habit was most likely from illegal activity. He said that
almost 60 percent of the people in the methadone program were
also working full time jobs because the methadone helped them
become functional. He allowed that it would be very beneficial
if the reimbursement could be improved. He stated that,
although it was improving a little bit, it was still problematic
for both of his agencies. He noted, as both of the agencies
provided state of the art services, it would be most beneficial
for them to continue.
8:02:20 AM
CHAIR HAWKER closed public testimony.
8:03:01 AM
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business before the committee, the
Legislative Budget and Audit Committee meeting was adjourned at
8:03 a.m.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| Agenda_LBA_17Mar15_Location Change.pdf |
JBUD 3/17/2015 7:30:00 AM |