INSIDE OKDHS - IN THE NEWS, JUNE 2011

Mark Beutler: Hello everybody.  Thanks for taking time to log on for news from around the Agency.  I'm Mark Beutler from the Office of Communications.

This is our second month providing webcasts of this report.  We hope you’re finding this method of delivery to be our very best yet.  From this point forward you should never have to leave your desk to view your Inside OKDHS segments.  So, I guess instead of talking about the webcast, let’s just go ahead and get right to the news.

Our first topic?  Volunteers.  McIntosh County volunteers were honored in a recent event held in Eufaula.  As we all know, volunteers are critical to improving the quality of life for citizens in a community.  OKDHS can help citizens with basic needs but it takes volunteers working in the community to help make people whole.

Our state wide volunteer coordinator, Karen Jacobs, travelled to Eufaula to present the Frieda Moseley Award to Sandi Guess and also honored a local volunteer named Patti Daniel.  Ms. Daniel volunteers at quite a few McIntosh County agencies, Toys for Tots, the local shelter, and a whole lot more.

And while we're honoring volunteers, McIntosh County employees Carol Lawrence, Tamara Wright, and Becky Newton-Williams put in long volunteer hours to decorate and prepare food for the celebration.  These types of events are important for every community to build bonds between our agency and the people in a community who offer their time and talents to others.  If your office or center hosts an event like this, we would love to know about it.  Contact Karen Jacobs in the Office of Volunteerism or contact us, right here in the Office of Communications.

Moving ahead, the State Legislature just wrapped up the spring session and passed many bills that will affect OKDHS and our employees. We caught up with Sandra Harrison as she prepared to present her legislative update to the Human Services Commission.

Sandra Harrison: We just finished the first session of the 53rd Legislature and actually as we are talking right now they're in recess.  And that is quite interesting because the Governor, instead of having 15 days to look at all the bills she was sent last week, which are about 101 bills, she only has five days to decide whether or not to sign those.  So, we're working quite feverishly with the Governor's Office on analysis of anything that might impact DHS.

Over the whole session, it was quite an interesting session, you started out with about 20 different bills regarding retirement systems, particularly for public employees, teachers, things like that and, at least as far as public employees are concerned, it's been whittled down to two bills.

No Audio: Slide labeled “HB 2132 (Rep. Steele & Rep. Brian Bingman)” which summarizes House Bill 2132 in this way:
-	Creates Truth in Funding Act - Modifies Oklahoma Pension Legislation
   Actuarial Analysis Act.
-	Removes cost of living adjustments for the definition of “non-fiscal
   retirement bills.”
-	Prohibits a bill from taking effect if the State Board of Equalization
   determines any retirement bill having a fiscal impact does not have
   current funding.
-	No retirement system shall adopt a cost-of-living actuarial assumption
   or cause such an assumption to be included in any actuarial valuation
   since this section requires all retirement bills having a fiscal impact
   to be fully funded.
-	Effective date August 25, 2011 since Emergency clause failed House of 
   Representatives.
-  Signed by Governor May 10, 2011.

Really, you have House Bill 2132, which basically puts a freeze on cost of living adjustments.  Cost of living adjustments cannot be put into place unless they're funded. That's called the Truth in Funding Act.  

Then there's another bill - Senate Bill 794, which essentially for any new employees coming in, their retirement age will be 65 years old.  That will be as of, employees coming into employment with the State of Oklahoma, November 1, 2011.  Any existing employees that we have that already have service credits, their retirement age, if you are in the Rule of 90 group, and we won't go all the way deep into that, is now going to be 62 years old.  Previously, you could retire earlier than that and the Rule of 80 group, which is an even earlier group of employees, is not effected at all by any of this legislation.

House Bill 1062 and essentially it provides for employees being able to opt out of state employee insurance system if they have proof of coverage under another system.  So say their spouse has coverage through his employer you just have to provide an affidavit and proof of coverage and you can opt out and get $150.

Mark Beutler: This legislative session brought with it some interesting situations for OKDHS, and really, all state agencies.  Naturally, the budget was a big part of it but there were other changes Sandra has been dealing with.

Sandra Harrison: It has been a little bit challenging this session because you had a brand new Governor come in, you had a new Speaker of the House be elected from his membership, you had a new President Pro Tempore and then you also had a lot of turn over amongst the membership of the Senate and the House.  We had at least 1/4 of the membership of the House of Representatives were freshmen and the same was true of the Senate.  That's a very high number.  

You're starting to see the effects of term limits with a lot of freshmen coming in.  And for a state agency like ours that means a lot of educating, typically.  Particularly if those members haven't had exposure to the services that we offer here at DHS, that puts some duty on us to make sure that we go out and educate those freshmen as to what services are important here in Oklahoma à those types of issues.

Mark Beutler: Also presenting to the Human Services Commission was Director Howard Hendrick.  He discussed a few of the bills from this legislative session and explained to the Commission how they will affect OKDHS.

Director Hendrick: I think you ought to appreciate the gravity of what these three pieces of legislation.  I believe all of them are still pending the Governor's signature, although Sandra may have some more current information than what I have. 

No Audio: Slide labeled “HB 1304 - IT & Financial Services Consolidation” which summarizes House Bill 1304 in this way:
     - All information technology assets of all appropriated state agencies
       shall be transferred to the Information Services Division of the Office
       of State Finance and CIO.

The first is the IT Consolidation legislation which is pending the Governor's...she's indicated she's going to sign that legislation.  The legislation in its final version does provide for exemptions and I think we will clearly fall within the provisions of the act for which exemptions are permissible.

They have to be granted, though, by the Chief Information Officer, so we will have to prepare an application to the Chief Information Officer for an exemption. The failure to get an exemption will cost us lots of money because all of the expenditures that we have are subject to the Federal Government's approved cost allocation plan.  

No Audio: Slide labeled “HB1363” which says, “On or before January 1, 2012, the OHCA shall initiate a request for proposals to contract for the performance of functions required in the day-to-day operation of the administration of the Oklahoma Medicaid ADvantage Waiver Program.”

The second one is a piece of legislation that calls for the Health Care Authority to put out an RFP for the operations of the Eligibility Plan of Care Administration Unit in the ADvantage Waiver.  This is an operation in Tulsa where we've in-sourced that operation from the Long Term Care Authority of Tulsa.

We've been able to demonstrate that operation is actually being run for less money than when it was run by the Long Term Care Authority of Tulsa with a lot better outcomes.  But the legislation calls for the Health Care Authority to put an RFP on the street to see if there are persons who can run that operation for less.  So, we'll have to go through some kind of a process and we'll see how that works out.

I think that the way, from my observation, the work done by that unit is very effective and very efficient.  So I think that they do a good job and from what I can tell it would be able to...I'd be surprised if it’s going to be run a lot better than the way it's being run right now.  They're doing a very good job.

And the last is that we're being required, again this is pending the Governor's signature, to prepare a plan to reduce or close the operations at SORC and NORC.  

No Audio: Slide labeled “HB 2184” which summarizes House Bill 2184 in this way:
-	Directs OKDHS to develop a plan that contains targeted dates to change
   or discontinue the operation of state-administered resource centers.
-	Requires OKDHS to consult with families and guardians of the residents
   as well as affected employees in developing the plan.

Current law provides that we cannot close SORC or NORC and so we're required to prepare a plan and get the input of family members and employees to prepare such a plan.

Mark Beutler: So far this session, more than 2000 bills have been introduced. That's about the same amount normally introduced over a two-year span.  Needless to say, there are many more bills pertaining to OKDHS and state employees.

Sandra Harrison prepared a PowerPoint presentation to cover pertinent bills at the Human Services Commission meeting.  You can read this presentation by clicking the link on the page where you found this report.  You can also check out information on all of the activities in the House and Senate by visiting www.ok.gov.  This web site links you to all aspects of Oklahoma government.

With the end of the legislative session, the picture on our budget is becoming a bit more clear.  Director Hendrick spent some time explaining what the budget cuts will mean for OKDHS.

Director Hendrick: Programs with service rates that have not been increased in many years will avoid rate reductions.  That's probably the good news.  The good news here is we have a lot of programs that haven't had rate increases in a long time and they've had cost increases. And they're struggling.  And so cutting their rates, which is another option we could have considered, would have been very challenging for those programs.  It might have actually put some of the programs under and we might have lost the entire program.  Most programs not exempted by federal law or severe economic hardship will take a 6-7% reduction instead of 11.7%.

Mark Beutler: Director Hendrick went on the share that the budget was still being worked on and final decisions have not been made.  He did say he doesn't think a reduction in force will be part of the final plan and voluntary buyouts may be offered as part of the savings.

You can see the Director's entire presentation to the Commission by clicking “Commission Report” on this page.  This will allow you to see his discussion with minimal editing.

The 36th annual Oklahoma Conference on Aging was held in mid-May and once again it proved to be the biggest gathering of professionals working in the field of geriatrics in the state.  After a one-day gathering of seniors, the professionals converged on the Embassy Suites Convention Center in Norman to learn and share.  

Jim Miller, creator of the Savvy Senior, a media and information service devoted to baby boomers and seniors, was one of the keynote speakers. He offers tips and insight regarding aging in America.  His outlets include a syndicated column, contributions to television network news programs, books, and radio.  

Also speaking to the gathered professionals was Barbara Holmberg, an Oklahoma-based life coach and business consultant.  Learning and sharing took place, lunch was eaten, and awards were presented.  Lifetime Achievement Awards were presented to Rachel Boggess, a longtime advocate and servant of older people in central Oklahoma, and to Judy Leitner, one of our very own.

Judy worked in the Community Relations Unit of Aging Services and stays busy in retirement advocating for older Oklahomans.

The Big 5 RSVP Program in Marietta was honored as the 2011 Outstanding Program for the Achievements in Aging Award, and Marie Trenary of Ponca City was selected as the Outstanding Professional for the Achievements in Aging.

Nursing Awards were given to Shannon North from Area Five, Rene McCollom from Area One, Leigh Erickson - Area Six, Joan Columbus from Area Four, Jennifer Parker from the Recertification Unit, Emilie Dugan from the ADvantage Administration Unit, Colleen Ogle from Area Two, Carrie Croft out of Area Three, and the 2011 Nurse of the Year Award was presented to Brenda Nixon.  These nurses go above and beyond the call of duty day-in and day-out in working for Oklahoma seniors and we're proud to recognize their efforts.

The Oklahoma Conference on Aging has become one of the premiere conferences and the participants look forward to it all year long.

In upcoming events, it's just about summer and that means LIHEAP applications.  This is the program that offers financial assistance for heating in the winter and cooling in the summer.  As usual, the funds are limited but always critical for the citizens who need the help.  Cari Crittenden administers the program.

Cari Crittenden: Well, summer cooling is scheduled to start Monday, July 11 [2011]. We are doing the pre-authorizations like we have been the last two years.  We expect to run the pre-authorization file here, through DSD, the 1st of June and our households should receive their pre-authorization letter in their mail by the middle of June.

Mark Beutler: Most human services centers will have temporary workers in to process the LIHEAP Program, but you may well receive phone calls and questions and we want you to be prepared.  

No Audio: Memorial photograph of Stuart McCollom, Office of Inspector General.

Finally, we want to take a moment to pay tribute to one of our very best.  Stuart McCollom passed away unexpectedly, May 13 [2011], after 43 years of service to OKDHS.  Stuart had served in the Navy prior to his long career with us. 

He led the Audit and Review Team for us and, through his disciplined but compassionate leadership, his people worked hard to make sure everything was ship-shape for the federal auditors.

You may not have known him personally, but every time a positive report came out on OKDHS accuracy rates, it had something to do with a quiet, diligent leader in the Office of Inspector General who made sure the 'i's were dotted and the 't's were crossed.  His service was unparalleled and his leadership will be missed.

That's it for this month.  Be sure to watch this space for news items and feature stories about all the people who make this the best state agency in Oklahoma.  We'll see you next time.