Title
a. Amend the Department of Social Services (DSS) Budget Unit 5010-SOC005-8262, to add thirteen (13) FTEs to meet the State provision of transferring the Healthy Families Program to the Medi-Cal Program; and
b. Authorize the County Administrative Office to incorporate the changes into the 5010- SOC005-8262 FY 2012-13 Adopted Budget to reflect the change in position counts; and
c. Approve and authorize the Auditor-Controller to amend the FY 2012-13 DSS 5010-SOC005-8262 Budget to increase appropriations and estimated revenues in the amount of $858,547 (4/5th vote required).
Report
RECOMMENDATION:
It is recommended that the Board of Supervisors:
a. Amend the Department of Social Services (DSS) Budget Unit 5010-SOC005-8262, to add thirteen (13) FTEs to meet the State provision of transferring the Healthy Families Program to the Medi-Cal Program; and
b. Authorize the County Administrative Office to incorporate the changes into the 5010- SOC005-8262 FY 2012-13 Adopted Budget to reflect the change in position counts; and
c. Approve and authorize the Auditor-Controller to amend the FY 2012-13 DSS 5010-SOC005-8262 Budget to increase appropriations and estimated revenues in the amount of $858,547 (4/5th vote required).
SUMMARY/DISCUSSION:
The enacted State Budget for 2012-13 included the provision of transferring the Healthy Families Program to the Medi-Cal Program. The transfer began in January and will continue over the entire calendar year of 2013. DSS must absorb the workload of approximately 290 new applications for assistance per month (an increase of approximately 9% in the volume of applications for assistance that must be assessed) and 19,111 children (an increase of approximately 25% in Medi-Cal beneficiaries.) To assist in addressing this workload DSS is recommending the addition of 13 additional staff positions in FY 2012-13.
With release of the Governor's Budget on January 10, 2013 the full amount of available funding for counties to implement the Healthy Families transition to Medi-Cal was finally made known. Additional revenue in the amount of $675,000 for staffing and office set-up is available in FY 2012-13 through this increased 100% State and Federal augmentation to the Medi-Cal allocation.
At the same time that the Healthy Families transition is taking place, DSS is planning and preparing for the additional workload associated with the Affordable Care Act program that is anticipated to begin in late fall of 2013. Early estimates indicate that an additional 39,000 Monterey county residents would be eligible for Medi-Cal under the new program rules. Given that the state is in the early stages of an implementation plan, more details will be forthcoming over the next six months. To relieve the pressure of the large number of applications currently being received and to achieve long-term workload efficiencies necessary for implementation of the Affordable Care Act of 2010, DSS is working towards implementation of a Contact Center in August 2013. In order to complete implementation of the Contact Center additional appropriations are needed to fully prepare the existing DSS facility at 713 La Guardia Street in Salinas. Pending site preparation costs include cabling in the building and the purchase of ergonomic workstations. Full funding for the site preparation is available from receipt of one-time funding from the Medi-Cal program for prior year unreimbursed expenses to cover the 50% State share and on-going Federal funding is available for the 50% Federal share.
Additional appropriations include $510,000 for site preparation and office set-up and increased staffing of 13.0 additional FTE in the amount of $348,547 (prorated) as identified in the chart below:
CLASSIFICATION TITLE |
CLASS CODE |
FTE CHANGES |
REVISED FTE TOTAL |
Eligibility Worker II |
25E21 |
5.0 |
155.0 |
Eligibility Worker III |
25E22 |
2.0 |
100.0 |
Eligibility Supervisor |
25E80 |
1.0 |
35.0 |
Social Services Aide II |
60D11 |
2.0 |
43.0 |
Administrative Services Assistant |
14C70 |
1.0 |
3.0 |
Supervising Office Assistant |
80E81 |
1.0 |
15.0 |
Sr. Dept. Info. Systems Coordinator |
43J09 |
1.0 |
7.0 |
Total |
|
13.0 |
|
OTHER AGENCY INVOLVEMENT:
The Human Resources Department has reviewed/approved the request to classify form and concurs with the classification recommendation.
FINANCING:
Recommendations result in additional appropriations of $858,547. Federal/State revenues to fund this additional appropriation are available from $675,000 in additional Medi-Cal allocations provided on a quarterly basis and $183,547 of one-time only funds in FY 2012-13 from reimbursement of prior year Medi-Cal eligibility expenses matched to available Federal funds for Medi-Cal and CalFresh eligibility. These funds will be ongoing to meet the needs of the program. Recommended actions will not increase County General Fund Contributions in DSS.
Prepared by: Wendy Russell, MCDSS Branch Director/Administration, x4431
Approved by: Elliott Robinson, Director, x4434