|
| |
|
Illinois Senate Appropriation Committee -
Hearing on DHS Budget - March 26, 2002 |
| My name is Thomas Frederick. I am the CEO of
Elm City Center in Jacksonville. We provide vocational, residential, and
social support services for people with disabilities. Almost all of the
people we serve have some form of developmental disability, mental illness
or both. Approximately 50% of our consumers live at Jacksonville
Developmental Center and 50% live in the community. We have been in
operation for over 40 years and currently have an annual budget of $3.4
million. DHS Office of Mental Health (OMH) and DHS Office of Developmental
Disabilities (ODD) account for $1.8 million or 53% of our revenue while we provide
the rest through production work. The proposed DHS 2003 budget is going to have
significant impact on our ability to provide our services to the number of
people in our program.
|
| Under the proposed 2003 DHS OMH budget,
our social center and outpatient programs were considered targeted programs
and funding of $108,000 was eliminated. This is a seven-day a week program
that was started at the request of the City of Jacksonville. This was a MI
demonstration project. The programs provide structured social programs, hot
meals, and support services. The results have been very successful with high
attendance rates, fewer interactions with the local police, and fewer
admissions to McFarland or other settings. Now over 110 consumers will be
dropped and 3 staff positions would be eliminated. The local mental health
center is unable to provide this program based on their level of OMH cuts.
Two consumers returning to McFarland or hospitalized in the community will
cost more than this program. |
Under the proposed 2003 DHS ODD budget,
programs look and sound great on paper, but the actual impact is
significantly negative
- The Developmental Training Purchase of Services for people living at
Jacksonville Developmental Center is rising from $7.02 per hour to $9.22
per hour. This is a $108,000 gain.
- The Developmental Training grant is moving from $13.07 per hour to a
purchase of service model at $9.46 per hour. This program has long
included consumers with MI diagnosis with the full knowledge of DHS. There
are 37 people in this program and at least seven are not likely to meet
the DD Medicaid criteria. This will be a revenue drop of $219,811 and
could include 2-3 staff positions.
- The Medicaid conversion to obtain increased Medicaid match monies is a
good move. This conversion will add 60 days to an increasing late accounts
receivable cash flow. For Elm City this is a $350,000 to $400,000 cash
issue for payroll and operations. DHS is proposing bridge loans to be
repaid once Medicaid monies start to come. At that time, we expect our
monthly payments to significantly decrease as this loan is repaid. This is
going to be difficult.
|
| Altogether Elm City Center is facing a
financial impact of up to $620,000. The potential $220,000 payment cut is
7.5% of our total budget and 12% of our DHS budget. The result will be 110+
people without structured social community activity, 15-20 people being
dropped from the vocational program and potentially 4-5 staff positions
being cut. The Medicaid conversion process will significantly effect to our
ability to pay our bills. This budget as a whole is unacceptable and needs
to change. |
|
Illinois
