HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Frustrated
by shortcomings it has identified in elder-abuse investigations,
Pennsylvania is trying to take a harder line with county agencies that
were tasked with fielding nearly 30,000 complaints last year.
The
Department of Aging is starting to grade counties on a more aggressive
compliance schedule after telling some they had failed, sometimes
repeatedly, to meet regulations and expectations on how complaints must
be handled.
Among the shortcomings identified by state
inspectors were failures to show investigations had started within the
timeframe dictated by state law and inadequately investigating a
complaint and logging the casework, according to documents reviewed by
The Associated Press.
Those documents were among hundreds of
pages of records obtained by the AP through requests to the Department
of Aging, which inspects the performance of 52 county-level agencies
tasked with fielding and responding to complaints that can involve
physical abuse, self-neglect or financial exploitation.
The
perceived shortcomings have raised questions from state inspectors as to
whether people were left in danger, and warnings have included orders
to immediately investigate a complaint.
A county now could have
as little as four months to improve what is called protective services
for people who are 60 and older before it loses the responsibility.
"At
four months, we should start to know whether we'll need to have another
entity to take over protective services for that county," said the
department's protective services director, Denise Getgen. "That's a lot
quicker than what we've done in the past."
Pennsylvania's
tougher stance comes at a time when many states are dealing with
fast-rising caseloads and funding that isn't growing, said Andrew
Capehart, of the National Adult Protective Services Association.
The
state's caseworkers handled 29,000 calls about potential elder abuse in
the 2016-17 fiscal year, according to department records, a call volume
officials say has tripled in recent years and is expected to continue
rising as Pennsylvania ages.
The details of complaints,
investigations and the identity of the person whose situation is in
question are kept secret, and the state has not disclosed the details of
an actual case where someone was harmed by county ineptness.
Should
a county-level agency fall down on the job, Pennsylvania reserves the
right to take over the task, or fire it and hire some other agency. It
has never done that.
Some county officials say that the
measurements can be subjective, and that protective services can improve
with training and additional staff. County officials often blame
turnover or staffing issues and contend violations can come down to
failing to enter information into a state-monitored database, not
failing to properly investigate.
The new protocol will grade
counties: green for good; yellow for significant or repetitive problems;
and red for significant or repetitive problems that put someone at
risk.
Four counties have so far been graded under the new
system: green for Adams County, yellow for Franklin and Perry counties,
and red for Northampton County.
In a Nov. 1 letter to the
Northampton County Area Agency on Aging, the department cited various
shortcomings, including one investigator with a caseload more than three
times the regulatory limit.
The agency's administrator, John
Mehler, acknowledged his staff had become swamped in recent months and
said he had assembled money in the agency's budget to hire a fourth
caseworker.
However, he disputed his agency had left anyone at risk.
"Are
we in compliance with everything the Department of Aging wants?
Absolutely not. We certainly have to work to do, we've acknowledged
that," Mehler said. "But has anyone been harmed or placed at risk? No,
and that's due to the diligence of the three investigators that we
have."
The performance of counties can vary widely. Some receive spotless reviews
In
March, the state ordered Catholic Charities of the Diocese of
Pittsburgh, which runs Lawrence County's protective services, to take
immediate action in 11 active cases.
In May, the department told
Delaware County's Office of Services for the Aging that it failed for
five years to fix shortcomings, and a recent review found "multiple
older adults reported to be in need of protective services have been
left at risk."
Meanwhile, state funding - the primary source of
money for protective services and other programs for the elderly - has
remained flat for more than a decade, as protective services demands
grow and compete for money with Meals on Wheels, senior activity centers
and in-home care.
In Dauphin County, there are now eight protective services caseworkers, up from three a few years ago.
"It
leaves us where we are today, where everybody at the county level is
looking to get a clear idea about what is the direction," said Bob
Burns, the director of Dauphin County's Area Agency On Aging. "What are
the highest priorities?"
Full Article & Source:
Pennsylvania pushes counties to improve elder-abuse casework
