Provider Watch - September 28, 2009 - Preparing for Tomorrow Today 

Mark Washington, Assistant Commissioner of the Department of Human Services, opened the Provider Summit with a keynote address on September 25^th to an audience of  200 Georgia child welfare executives.  This much anticipated conference brought together child welfare executives from all over Georgia, DHS Regional Directors and State DFCS leadership.  Billed as a “must attend” event, the Provider Summit agenda was the roll out of Georgia’s child welfare transformational plan with the private stakeholder community. 

Mark Washington's keynote address casted a vision for a system of shared responsibility and outcomes focused performance that utilizes evidence-based services.  The Federally driven Child and Family Service Reviews (CFSRs) and the Kenny A. Consent Decree requirements are driving an outcome based system that has only addressed the public system.  Child welfare is a three-legged system involving the community, public sector and the private sector.  Presently the private sector mostly contracts for processes (i.e. bed days, services rendered, etc.) not outcomes (permanency, lengths-of-stay, and stability.)  Bed days are now more important than family reunification for most agencies. Neither incentives nor resources are in place to address the performance outcomes desired by the Department and the Feds.   

Moving toward a performance based contracting system that promotes outcomes rather than processes will require an intense partnership between the public and private sectors.  Shared case management within the public/private sectors will be the norm.  Risk management will be written into every business plan along with data systems to track the actual costs of delivering outcomes verses processes.  Family centered and community based care will require the retooling of many agencies in Georgia’s child welfare system.   

Permanency, safety and wellbeing are required by the CSFRs.  Presently the Department buys processes and not outcomes. In order to move to a system that is not buying “just a day in foster care” but permanency, safety and wellbeing for the child, Georgia will be implementing performance focused accountability, evidence informed decision making and program evaluations.  Provider incentives will be put in place to move toward the outcomes that the Federal government and State require.  Mr. Washington said that this will require unprecedented transparency with the stakeholder community, and a real partnership between the public and private sectors. 

A key feature for moving toward mutual accountability will be the implementation of Provider G-Force Meetings.  These meetings have had a transformative effect on the public sector's work.  Child welfare outcomes are measured by data and plotted on a chart according to practice.  Practice then can be compared to the desired outcomes. The “right work the right way” can be discerned.  Using this process, child abuse investigations have dropped by 42%, DHS staff turnover has been reduced by 30%, caseloads are down by almost 50%, and the number of children in foster care is down by 40%.  Provider G-Force Meetings are expected to produce similar results in the private sector toward permanency (how many children are reunited with the families, and go home sooner.)
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                            Normer Adams, Editor
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