A Wayne County delegate says he agrees with the findings of a recent review of the operations of the state Department of Health and Human Resources, the massive state agency that spends billions of dollars each year and employs thousands of people.
“We’ve got to get a vision. We don’t have a vision for DHHR,” Delegate Don Perdue, Chairman of the House Health Committee, said on Monday’s MetroNews Talkline.
“What we’ve done is we’ve applied ourselves to operating DHHR every day, just getting through each day and that’s very difficult.”
The comprehensive review of DHHR from Public Works, the same organization that conducted the independent audit of West Virginia’s education system, was made public late last week. It was turned over to Governor Earl Ray Tomblin earlier this year.
“Our findings indicate that West Virginia’s health care system is fraught with systemic challenges involving rising health care costs, poor health outcomes and lack of access to appropriate care,” the report said.
“However, West Virginia’s Department of Health and Human Resources and other health care agencies, rather than working together to mitigate these problems, are beset by fragmentation, an insufficient workforce, and the lack of an overarching strategic vision and a sustained mechanism for accountability.”
According to the report, the agency has a significant turnover problem with about 30% of its workers leaving each year, loses more than $90 million each year because of fraud and mistakes with Medicaid and has been paying much more in travel expenses in recent years.
The report does include a positive note, though. “While daunting, West Virginia’s health care challenges are not insurmountable,” it said.
Researchers with Public Works have outlined a new strategic vision for West Virginia’s health care system which focuses on three goals of better health, better care and lower costs.
In all, the report includes 78 recommendations that, researchers say, could save the state $56.7 million.
Delegate Perdue says state leaders must now act on those recommendations.
“There are things we can do that don’t really require legislation, but the things that require legislation….that needs to be done very soon,” he said. “It’s time to stop thinking about it and start doing things about it.”
DHHR’s annual budget totals $4 billion. About $2.7 billion of that amount comes from the federal government, mostly for Medicaid. DHHR employs more than 6,300 people in every West Virginia county who provide a range of health services.