Stephen says state will 'follow up' on Center of Hope property [01/01/1904]

By David Carkhuff

Center of Hope may refuse to give up computers, buildings and other personal property when the nonprofit corporation sends its developmentally disabled clients to a new state service provider, but John Stephen, commissioner of N.H. Health and Human Services, said in a Jan. 27 interview that the state will not simply look the other way."Our number one priority right now is to ensure that the quality of services is not interrupted in any way, that this consolidation is seamless, and I can guarantee you that the issue of assets will be something that the state will review and has already begun to review," he said. "But for right now, our main emphasis is making sure that we can continue to provide whatever support and resources are needed for both of the boards to meet the consolidation proposal that they've agreed."On Jan. 1, an administrative rule change from the N.H. Department of Health and Human Services consolidated two service regions, responsible for the delivery of developmental services, into one region. That means Center of Hope will cease providing the services. Northern Human Services assumed administrative responsibility for the newly realigned region, reported Dennis MacKay, chief executive officer of Northern Human Services.This is a daunting yet exciting process," he said in a press release. "Its success depends on a tremendous investment of time, energy and commitment of everyone involved. The investment is well worth the effort when you look at the impact on the individuals we serve and their families."Northern Human Services has been working collaboratively with the board and management of the Center of Hope to transition all service responsibility from COH to NHS. Services will remain locally based and the goal of the transition is to minimize any service disruption. Once the transition has been completed the focus of the new region will be on enhancing care."Beyond the press statements, officials concede that the question of Center of Hope keeping personal property that could be used to help clients in their new location will need to be confronted."Early on we voiced a concern with the asset issue to the board, and we're going to continue to follow up on that issue," Stephen said.By the beginning of April, the two service providers Center of Hope and Northern Human Services are expected to complete the transition, but the Center of Hope board has shown no indication of surrendering assets that the board believes belong to the corporation, not the state or its new contractor.MacKay, in a Jan. 27 interview, said he doesn't expect assets to follow clients."That's the working assumption that I have now because that's the position that the Center of Hope board has taken. Northern is trying to work under that assumption," he said.This dispute, however, should not hinder the transition, he said."What we're doing is taking on the contract from the state and we're billing Medicaid, and those resources will be coming into Northern and we'll be able to hire staff and run the current program and pay the rent," he said. "We do intend to operate and not have any disruption in services."Asked what the impact would be on Northern Human Services if the agency is required to replace personal property formerly used at Center of Hope, MacKay said it's too early to know."I'm not able to quantify that right now," he said.But he said his agency will do due diligence and complete a financial analysis to come to terms with long-term effects."I have spoken to members of the Center of Hope board, I've spoken to members of the Northern Board as well, and the last decision of the board to allow for a seamless transition and to work cooperatively with Northern was very important to us and quite frankly was a message that the Center of Hope board would ensure that services would not be interrupted," he said."Our intention is to move all of the programs and services over by April 1," he said.Stephen said the goal of alleviating waiting times for developmentally disabled applicants remains on track. He said savings appeared to be on target for wait list reduction in fiscal year 2007."The consolidation will end up returning monies used to reduce the wait list, and we're right on target. Yet we need to make sure that quality of services is not impacted," he said."The Center of Hope board has been responsive to our request to make sure that this transition is seamless," Stephen said, but he also acknowledged that the disposition of assets remains up in the air."It is a question that this department hopes it does not have to address," he said.