Local News

Wednesday, November 21, 2007 Todd County Board of Commissioners Service coordinator position discussed by Karin L. Nauber Public Health Director Cheryl Schneider and Social Services Director Frank Sandelin were at the work session of the commissioners on November 13 to discuss a new program called Special Needs Basic Program which is an effort by the Department of Human Services to have service coordination moved out of the state's hands and into the hands of counties. This program is an integrated Medicare and Medicaid program. It is voluntary so people have to sign up for it or dis-enroll if they no longer want the service. Sandelin said the program begins in January 2008. There is no premium increase for the program. The issue is that the county needs a service coordinator to coordinate the services for the clients. Schneider said, "It it difficult to guess how many will enroll. We are probably seeing clients in our (respective) offices already, but there is no list of names at this time to compare. We hope to have that list in January. DHS will be sending out the enrollment information to eligible people." Commissioner Randy Neumann asked if they had a percentage for the county? Schneider said the number they were given for the county was 444. Sandelin was concerned about how they would provide care coordination for such uncertainties. He said that reimbursements for salary for the service coordinator salary would come through the medical plans. The question that arose is how many people will they need in the role of service coordinator? He said that 400 people wouldn't sign up the first day so they don't necessarily need someone in this role on January 1. This is a position that can be filled either with a social worker or a nurse. The commissioners wondered if this was the same service coordinator that had been discussed by Schneider at an earlier meeting. Schneider said it was not. That was a coordinator for the waivered and some other county programs. She also said that they have the money to hire for this position and had been approved in January 2006 to hire someone. "Since we couldn't find anyone, we decided to wait and see until the case loads grew. Now we have an issue with getting nurses and we need to fill the position," she said. They have some applicants that will be interviewed this month. She also provided the amounts spent on advertising for nursing positions and the service coordinator. It has been approximately $3500 since 2006. Schneider said they had also contacted Pro Staff when Neumann asked if they had tried them. She said they'd had no response from Pro Staff. They have also sent letters to schools of nursing and have used the county website as well as other free resources for advertising. Commissioner David Kircher said that if the program was self-sustaining then it was a no-brainer to do it. Commissioner Mark Nelson said that they needed to have people who could help people understand the program. Schneider said that they were hopeful that when SCHA accesses the list of names, the county will be able to find out who they are already serving. She said it would make sense not to change staff people if they were already getting the service. After the presentation, Schneider also gave a picture update on the space that public health is using. Chair Mark Blessing said that some people had expressed concern that public health was taking over the basement in Annex 1. He said that was a misconception and that others can still use many areas of the basement. There was also a discussion about one of the rooms in the basement that is used as a storm shelter. Kircher said that critical records are kept there and that they should have a staff person there when the shelter is used. He questioned whether the county should continue to be responsible for this. Schneider said that the city of Long Prairie has an area in the middle school that could perhaps be used as a storm shelter. Blessing said that Emergency Management Director Bob Blessing was looking into this. Union Negotiations The commissioners continue to hold negotiations. They said that the groups they have met with sound positive. County Administrator Discussed looking at hiring a hiring firm to help with getting an administrator. The city of Staples used one to hire their administrator and it came to about $18,000 with expenses.