
Human Services
Kevin Concannon,
Director
Mission Statement:
The Mission of the Iowa Department of Human Services is
to help individuals and families achieve safe, stable, self-sufficient,
and healthy lives, thereby contributing to the economic
growth of the state. We do this by keeping a customer focus,
striving for excellence, sound stewardship of state resources,
maximizing the use of federal funding and leveraging opportunities,
and by working with our public and private partners to achieve
results.
Measures:
Preventing hunger
Children safe from re-abuse
Children's health care access
Child support due that is collected
Federal funds for kids
Dollars saved through the Pharmaceutical
Preferred Drug List (Iowa Medicaid) program
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Performance
Plan - How we measure our progress
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Strategic
Plan - How we plan for progress
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Performance
Report - How we report for progress
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Department Home
Page - Learn more about this department
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Highlighted Measure:
Number of eligible Iowans receiving
food and nutrition benefits.
Data Source: Department of Human Services
Updated 5/1/08
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Why this is important:
Food assistance prevents hunger and helps families meet
their basic nutritional needs and increases the family's
nutritional levels. Preventing hunger is one of the building
blocks in all of social service. It doesn't solve all of
a family's problems, but other problems are more manageable
if hunger is not an issue. Many people receiving food assistance
are on fixed incomes. Food assistance allows seniors to
not have to make the difficult choice between buying food
or prescription drugs. In addition, the Food Assistance
program stimulates the economy for the benefit of all Iowans.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has estimated that every
$5 in food assistance generates $9.20 in local and state
economic activity. The Food Assistance Program brought
$261,046,974 into Iowa in FY07.
What we're doing about this:
Recognizing that many eligible Iowans were not receiving
Food Assistance, DHS established an aggressive growth target.
Along with that target, several initiatives were implemented.
We now issue Food Assistance through an electronic benefit
transfer (EBT) card, reducing the stigma of the program
and increasing convenience for clients. We have reduced
the frequency that clients are required to report changes
in income and began to base eligibility on an estimate
of their future income. This simplified program reporting
reduced the burden on clients and staff, making the program
more attractive and convenient. DHS also participated in
a National Media Campaign sponsored by our federal partners
at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and conducted
intense outreach efforts. We simplified the application
for Food Assistance. We have implemented a statewide Food
Assistance Customer Service Call Center funded by a USDA
Food and Nutrition Service Participation Grant.
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Highlighted Measure:
Percent of children in Iowa who
are safe from re-abuse for at
least six months following a
confirmed report of neglect or
abuse.
Data Source: Department of Human Services, State Child Welfare
Information System (CWIS),
STAR sub-system
Updated 2/27/08
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Why this is important:
This measure is an indicator of the safety of children
and the effectiveness of communities, providers and the
department working together to ensure children are safe
from repeat abuse. This measure is a required measure under
the federal child and family services review requirement
conducted of all states. Though data collected are somewhat
comparable amongst states, results in each state are impacted
by the individual laws of each state that determine what
is defined and counted as abuse and re-abuse.
What we're doing about this:
In order to focus on improving outcomes for
families, the department has undertaken a
redesign of child welfare services. Through
the redesign process, resources were focused
on providing training to front-line staff
and supervisors as well as providing counseling
and support to families to improve parenting
skills. Standardized abuse assessment tools
have been developed and training is provided
to staff. A quality assurance and
continuous improvement initiative has been
implemented to evaluate best-practices and
maintain a focus on outcomes.
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Highlighted Measure:
Children's Health Care Access
for children 0-18 years of age
and at/or below 200% Federal
Poverty Level.
Data Source: Department of Human Services, Medicaid administrative
reports and hawk-i demographic
reports
Updated 5/1/08
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Why this is important:
Access to health care improves health, wellness
and quality of life. Healthy children are able
to attend school, learn, grow, develop healthy
lifestyles, and become productive adults. Iowa
provides public health insurance to over 200,000
children (approximately 180,000 in Medicaid and
20,000 in hawk-i). Overall, about 8% of Iowa
children are uninsured while about 15% of those
under 200% of Federal Poverty Level are not insured.
Providing health care to these children is extremely
important.
What we're doing about this:
The department conducts grassroots outreach and
media activities with the Department of Public
Health as well as working cooperatively with
schools, medical providers, businesses, faith-based
and other organizations. A statewide mailing
is sent to all school age children across Iowa
at the start of the school year. The Department
has developed an automated referral system from
Medicaid. The hawk-i program makes referrals
to Medicaid services. The national trend in Medicaid
program participation is downward from the impact
of the Deficit Reduction Act requiring proof
of citizenship.
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| Highlighted Measure:
Percentage of child support owed
in the current state fiscal year
which is collected in the current
state fiscal year and the total
child support collected
Data Source: Department of Human Services; Federal 157 Reports
- Child Support Recovery
Unit
Updated 5/1/08
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Why this is important:
Current child support collected in the month due helps
families have predictable income to use for the needs of
the children. Current support also helps families avoid
the need for public assistance.
What we're doing about this:
Workers in the Child Support Division locate absent parents,
secure income-withholding orders, and, in the case of non-paying
obligors, offset tax refunds and apply license sanctions.
Iowa has developed joint offices with Nebraska and Illinois
to improve payment rates of shared interstate cases.
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| Highlighted Measure:
Title IV-E claiming penetration
rate.
Data Source: Department of Human Services, Division of Fiscal
Management
Updated 5/1/08 |
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Why this is important:
States are able to obtain federal matching funds related
to the delivery of child welfare services for eligible
cases. By carefully identifying cases that are eligible
for these federal matching funds, DHS has been able to
provide a broader range of services to Iowa children and
families. Iowa is able to serve more children with state
resources by leveraging federal funding through the Social
SEcurity Act, Title IV-E.
What we're doing about this:
A IV-E eligibility unit was established, ongoing staff
training is provided, and supervisors conduct reviews to
identify cases potentially eligible for Title IV-E funds.
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| Highlighted Measure:
Dollars saved through the Pharmaceutical
Preferred Drug List (Iowa Medicaid)
Program
Data Source: Department of Human Services, Iowa Medicaid
Enterprise
Updated 5/1/08 |
NOTE: Quarterly data is cumulative. |
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Why this is important:
The implementation of the Preferred Drug List and the receipt
of supplemental drug rebates from drug manufacturers have
played a critical role in containing the costs of prescription
drugs in the Iowa Medicaid program. In SFY 2005, with the
PDL in effect for six months, the drug
expenditures
were
$407.8M,
representing
a 14%
annual
increase. After accounting for the supplemental rebates
($9M), this net annual increase in SFY 2005 was reduced
to 11.5%. In SFY 2006, the drug expenditures were $332.6M
with nearly $16M in supplemental rebates.
What we're doing about this:
DHS implemented a Preferred Drug List and negotiated for
Supplemental Rebates beginning January 2005. In 2006, the
Department collaborated in the creation of the Sovereign
States Drug Consortium, a multi-state drug pool. Since
its inception, this drug pool, authorized by the federal
government, has allowed the state to obtain better supplemental
rebates. The federal Medicare Part D drug program shifted
drug costs out of the Iowa Medicaid program for dually
eligible Medicaid members to the federal Medicare program,
resulting in a reduction of expenditures from 2006 to 2007,
as seen on the chart.
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