Hawaii County Case Management (CM)

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not be grant (Kupuna Care) funded, but County funded to make their employment security and benefits the same as other HCOA employees. The state is mostly interested in generat- ing uniform data to report to the federal offices, and we have already complied with adopt- ing their (less user-friendly!) database. We can let them know we want to preserve pro- cesses that have worked well for our clients for over 30 years. C. We recommend ending the practice of awarding a single contract for all CM services; in- stead, use different agencies as we do with other services in our vendor pool. For example, during the lava crisis, Neighborhood Place of Puna was selected to provide case manage- ment (there were also many referrals to Services for Seniors). Different vendors who pro- vide specialty services, such as staff who speak other languages or know the culture of a lo- cal area, could be selected to better meet the needs of clients. This flexibility could help serve seniors more equitably across the island rather than being Hilo -centric. D. Given the 30 year relationship with SFS which was created at the request of HCOA and which has always been responsive to its needs, we do not want to lose that relationship and the expertise that agency has developed over the years specifically serving kupuna. We worry too that bringing CM totally in-house leaves us open to liability issues as well as Hu- man Resource burdens. In sum, our recommended mixed model preserves the connection to SFS while giving us more vendor options, gives us time to test out streamlined internal processes that could improve the timeliness of services, and continue our short-term Kupuna Care model that allows us to serve a greater number of seniors. As a transition, we might need to extend the SFS contract for another 6 months or more, depending on what the county procurement allows. Such a transitionary pe- riod should allow HCOA to identify and secure interested agencies that may be well suited in the provision of case management services on a per referral basis. Mahalo, HCOA Advisory Committee on Aging