Northampton County's Governance Committee, chaired by Lori Vargo-Heffner, met late Thursday afternoon to discuss a Gracedale operational assessment, a pay study and a review of county IT. Late last year, County Council set aside $450,000 to fund this work. "We're a kinder, gentler committee," said Vargo-Heffner, in a thinly disguised rebuke of Kerry "This is my committee" Myers and his antics at another committee hearing the day before.
Gracedale Operational Assessment. - County Council heard from Chase Cannon, the Exec Director of the Pa Coalition of Affiliated Healthcare and Living Communities. This represents all the nursing homes within the state. He made some very interesting observations concerning the long-term viability of all nursing homes, not just Gracedale.
First, he noted a "huge funding gap" between the cost of care and Medicare/Medicaid reimbursement rates. It's about $1.1 billion at Pa. nursing homes. He indicated that Governor Tom Wolf has made an effort to get some of that money, but it's fall short of what is needed. The industry is lobbying for a substantial increase in the reimbursement rate.
Second, he indicated there needs to be a hard look at staffing. He noted that nursing homes are simply unable to compete with facilities offering $27,000 signing bonuses to nurses. So he indicated that there should be other ways to attract staff.by improving the work environment. "What do your break rooms look like? Is there consideration given to breaks during the work shift? What sort of comradery and staff morale is there in the facility? How do you improve that?" He indicated that imporvements in the work environment can sometimes offset the smaller salaries.
Cannon listed specific things like daycare and education, both of which are already being pushed at Gracedale.
Third, Cannon indicated that, on the administrative side, there should be an examination of the bad debt ratio. Residents considered unqualified for Medicaid and written off as bad debts are often actually qualified.
Fourth, in response to questions by Council member John Cusick, Cannon indicated that the standard of care is moving to two beds per room instead of the four at Gracedale. "You probably should start moving in that direction now," he warned.
Fifth, Cannon cautioned that hours of nursing care required for each resident on a daily basis, known as PPD, is going to be increased sharply. Currently, the state requirement is 2.7 hours of nursing care for each resident every day. That is expected to go up to 4.1. Gracedale is struggling to maintain a 2/45 PPD and has had to reduce its census.
Based on Cannon's input, Council will begin preparing what is known as a request for proposals (RFP), giving nursing home consultants an opportunity to analyze how or if the home can be improved. Vargo-Heffner suggested an employee survey as well.
She is asking Council members to some up with suggestions for an RFP by April 1, and Council will vote on it at their April 7 meeting.
Pay Study. - The Governance Committee also considered seeking out someone with the expertise to study salaries. John Cusick indicated that whomever does this work should be asked to update the Hay study completed when John Stoffa was Exec. Cusick may be unaware of this, but that study only dealt with career service (nonunion) salaries.
Cusick indicated that the study should include a comparison of the salaries paid in other third class counties for equivalent jobs, like corrections officer or deputy sheriff.
IT Study - Tom Giovanni, who has some expertise in computerland, is spearhesding the RFP for IT. Council is mostly concerned about IT improvements within Council chambers.I believethe UIT reeview should be far more expansive and should consider the advisability of an internal IT department. .
Someone should get off his dead ass and call their State Association and ask them if they could forward to them any information about salaries, benefits, etc. that they have at their fingertips pertaining to third class counties. We have it for our Municipalities Assoc. They should have this at the ready. Also, the business community in Northampton county has annual meetings where they share information about salaries etc. Call Don Cunningham and see if the people who head up the Human Resource departments for various business' in the County are willing to share this information. He will be happy to steer you in the right direction. They used to share that on an annual basis to all business' who were members of their association (which is just about every business in the County). Council should then compare that information with salaries paid to their employees and lay down a strategic plan to address any of the inequities in the system. If none of this information is available, then go out with an RFP.
ReplyDeleteI have to agree. I've said this before. PACAH has always done a study they share. Lehigh county has always done a study that if you participate you can see results. Gracedale always participated. Many associations also do studies. If you can't afford to give the big salary increases why pay 100000$ for a study? If you want have HR do the study. It's easy get on phone and reach out. All local nursing homes and hospitals used to participate as long as they can see final report. I'm sure other county offices would share other department salaries. Actually government salaries are available for all of us to see. Money is not the reason people take jobs in Northampton county. They take them because of their passion to serve. Treat them well and they will serve well. Show them respect and they will give respect. Lead and they will follow.
DeleteHopefully a study will show that keeping people at the bottom of the pay scale makes for a revolving door and turns county service into a job, not a career.
ReplyDeleteShould also study the county's constitution. The Executive has too much power and county council is powerless. Thery may approve a budget but the have no real power to put it together. They also don't have the staff or access to all th information the Administration has. Its really one person rule.
ReplyDeleteI have had the privilege of working with John Cusick in many committees when I was employed with the County of Northampton. However, in the instance of the IT study, I must respectfully disagree with his assessment. I know from experience, from whence I speak. I was assigned, by the then County Executive, John Stoffa, to participate in the committee that executed the Hay Study. The committee participants included the HR Director, a County Councilwoman, a Court Administrator, several department heads and myself. I agree that all entities that make up County Government, should participate in the study, for, to quote an old saying, "It takes a village" to confront a problem. The fatal flaw of the Hay Study, was in the transparency of the study. The Hay Group mandated that it's proprietary methodology of the study not be released. This may be appropriate for private enterprises, but for government, there must be a clear transparency of the IT study, for the benefit of all involved, including the taxpayer. I also agree with the aforementioned comment, that the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania (CCAP), has already collated County studies and makes them available for each of the 67 Counties within the Commonwealth. Why reinvent the wheel? Comparisons are available with other Counties in Pennsylvania. This is just my two cents. Respectfully, Bill Hillanbrand
ReplyDeleteIn the aforementioned comment, I meant to say Pay Study.
ReplyDeleteLike 8:40AM said, will someone get off their dead ass and make the call to one of these associations to simply ask them for any of the surveys they may have. It's now time for some councilman or woman to step up and EARN YOUR DAMN PAYCHECK. All it takes is a phone call. Not one of the council people earn their paychecks. Where are the Republicans on this issue. They can really make a big stink about this issue. McClure doesn't want a pay study and the Dem's are very reluctant to buck McClure. The R's can win over the whole County labor Force by making a few simple phone calls and then make the results public. The County is ripe for the R's to take control. Two thousand employees and their families is one helluva voting block. We're behind you. C'mon R's, we need your help on this one. Show us you care.
ReplyDeletePlain and simple the IT department should be county employees. Move them to the county. Paying a company to pay them cannot save money. Plus I'm sure that IT company could care less about the county. It's always about the bottom line.
ReplyDeleteI would visit the Veterans at Gracedale on a regular basses before Corona.almost every week. I observed no abuse . I observed zero poor conditions. ,I was there for about year many weeks. I would have lunch with a couple of guys there,food was great. I payed for mine. But employees were were in lunch room ,I thought just getting by with moral . Ah, this place was Jim Hemstreets baby. He never wanted this place to not serve NorCo citizens. The problem are a lot of out of state people moved here and brought relatives into this building.. I say an auditor should digest the intake and make analysis. It’s not fair to NorCar older folks if this is happening.
ReplyDeleteMost county homes started taking out of county residents especially if family in the area even if they never lived here before. The purpose was to fill beds. Make money. I agree that paying for people not in our county is a problem but it was and continues to be done.
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