APHSA 2015 Annual Report

INNOVATION IN ACTION

To generate solutions to challenging issues, creative agency leaders in Milwaukee, Wisconsin have reached across programs, other county departments, and even across sectors to collaborate and provide a range of holistic services to improve practice delivery and impact outcomes of its constituents. The county’s Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) and Department of Aging (DOA) have worked together to provide effective and comprehensive services to people with Alzheimer’s disease. DHHS made accessible to DOA a wide range of life-sustaining and life-saving services provided by its divisions of Management Services, Behavioral Health, Disabilities Services, Housing, and Emergency Medical Services. The success of this system transformation also rested on changes in legal process; enhanced family and community education and engagement; and greater collaboration with partners from medical and psychiatric hospitals to long-term care facilities, home caregivers, first responders (fire, police and first aid personnel), and the courts. As a result, preventable crises are averted, support services are better utilized, cost savings are achieved from fewer residential placements, and Milwaukee’s citizens enjoy a higher quality of life. Juvenile Justice has also made significant strides in promoting education and evidence based services that are centered on the family, rather than the juvenile. By diverting youth from the state facilities, the county has spent about $2.5 million less on juvenile corrections than it did in 2010, and is producing young people who are ready to participate more richly in community life.

For Connecticut’s Department of Social Services (DSS ), navigating a “perfect storm” of obsolete systems and mounting enrollment has meant tapping a host of new technologies to bring the agency and its 950,000 enrollees closer together. DSS’ multi-faceted service modernization initiative—“ConneCT”—has resulted in such reforms as online applications and hard copy document scanning, a toll-free interactive voice-response line, and online client accounts that offer 24/7 access. Low-cost yet impactful marketing techniques were used to build awareness of the ConneCT web services, including caseworker voicemail scripts and email signatures. The initiative has increased access for clients to the department and to the health, food, and many other vital services DSS provides. The agency has now embarked on a major effort to replace its 1980s-vintage eligibility management system with a modern and fully integrated system through the Affordable Care Act’s funding opportunities for states.

“The membership is very valuable to us” – Tennessee

American Public Human Services Association

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