Human Services is planning for the future
LYNN MARINELLI Legislature Chairperson
Erie County Human Services professionals are confronting multiple short- and long-term challenges. The many challenges are reflected in national trends: nearly one in six persons nationally receives some form of public assistance, and Medicaid spending is expected to grow more than 6 percent in 2007 alone.

The county Department of Human Services assists approximately 200,000 county residents each year through 17 major programs and services. These include temporary-assistance food stamps, day care, child protection, child support, Home Energy Assistance Program, foster care, domestic violence, adult protection and legal assistance for the disabled. The department's 2007 budget is $515 million, which accounts for 36.6 percent of the yearly county budget.

Sources of funding for programming and services come from the federal government, 21 percent; state, 26 percent; county, 49 percent; and other, 4 percent. Approximately 1,450 people currently work in the department, which has 250 fewer staff positions than the start of 2005.

The bottom line nationally and locally is that the delivery of social services requires restructuring and an overall effectiveness action agenda.

The department is pursuing restructuring changes through The Blueprint for Change. It encompasses a plan to combine all or part of the functions of the five human services departments, including social services, senior services, mental health, health and probation.

The goal is to build an integrated system of service delivery that coordinates accessible client entry. The relocation of staff and community resources will increase service delivery efficiency and effectiveness.

The creation of single points of accountability for high-cost, intensive services will improve both service performance-based outcomes and produce savings.

The department has also undertaken initiatives as part of the county's four-year fiscal plan in order to achieve cost savings or limit cost growth. A major cost-savings initiative under way is enhanced Medicaid fraud investigation activities that build on state efforts to expose Medicaid vendor fraud. A second effort is the development of an integrated case-management information system designed to streamline human services.

The anticipated growth in the number of people and families seeking public social services throughout this decade will require that an integrated, cost savings-restructuring plan be implemented.

The Human Services Department's plans to reimagine how best to deliver its services is one of the items before the Legislature's Human Services Committee chaired by Legislator Tom Mazur.

I welcome public input on the Blueprint for Change. The planning document can be accessed at http://www.erie.gov/blueprint/index.asp. Your thoughts can be shared with me by either calling 832-0493 or e-mailing me at marinelli@erie.gov.