HOME

LEADERSHIP AGENDA

OPERATIONAL SCAN

DEPARTMENT PERFORMANCE

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

•  Performance Plan - How we measure our progress


•  Strategic Plan - How we plan for progress


•  Performance Report - How we report for progress


• Department Home Page - Learn more about this department

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Copyright © 2003-2007 State of Iowa

Questions and Feedback  |  About this Site