CATHY’S MESSAGE

Hello teammates,

Cathy Kinnaman Director

With the legislative session in full swing, it is a perfect time to pause and prepare for 2023. Building a cohesive leadership team is vital to me because you all must be informed and get clear information about the things on our radar this coming year. In late February, your leadership will come together for a full day to focus on setting clear objectives and goals for us all. HCS has over 1,250 employees who support numerous programs and services, all going full steam and in different directions. It is a priority for me to support this work and communicate across the division what our objectives and goals are for 2023. Other organization-wide goals for HCS include, but are not limited to:

Provider Stabilization

HCS will use new positions under Money Follows the Person to prioritize outreach and navigation, encouraging people to caregiving. In addition, we will continue to work with the Associations and stakeholders to address concerns and prioritize our efforts. Additionally, we will continue to expand continuing education training offerings in CareLearn and expand these training offerings to include the Developmental Disabilities Administration.

Workforce Stabilization

HCS will continue to work closely with our human resource partners regarding statewide recruitments and crafting compelling job postings. This past year we’ve done tremendous work reducing the number of vacancies, seeing positive results in all three regions and headquarters. In addition to increased staffing, I’ve also sponsored a workgroup to investigate our current service delivery system and make recommendations. The workgroup findings will help our team complete in-home initial assessments timely and transfer cases sooner. This may also increase the use of appropriate, person-centered, nonpersonal care services and assistive technology for HCS clients.

Unwinding the Public Health Emergency

President Biden recently announced that on May 11, 2023, the public health emergency would end. So we will have lots of work to unwind the federal flexibilities we have been working under since 2020. HCS will continue to work with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid to ensure minimal impacts on clients during the public health emergency unwinding activities starting in April. Our team will ensure that waiver and state plan amendments are submitted to support the flexibilities we plan to retain. We are also committed to providing staff with training on any proposed changes.

Stakeholder Engagement

In 2023, we will increase our efforts to seek and include feedback from clients, particularly under-represented and BIPOC communities, in developing programs and policies. One outcome could be a stakeholder tracking dashboard to ensure stakeholders are identified and invited to participate in all proposed policy changes.

Succession Planning

By the end of this fiscal year, over 200 HCS staff are eligible for retirement, just over 16 percent of our workforce. In some units, that number is considerably higher. As we plan for the increase in the aging population from a client perspective, we must do the same for our division’s workforce. We must find ways to support and develop our upcoming leaders, create additional supports for unit managers and encourage mentoring and job development opportunities wherever possible.

Legislative Funding

With adequate funding and support, some of these priorities could be protected. We must remain agile and responsive to bill analysis and fiscal note requests during the legislative session. HCS is also prioritizing a legislative request for raising our clients’ residential and personal needs allowance. Stay tuned as this works its way through the 105-day 2023 legislative session.

As always, thank you for all you do in supporting the critical work of the Aging and Long-Term Support Administration, and more specifically, Home and Community Services. It takes every team member to accomplish our priorities and mission.