SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. 80
(By Senators McCabe and Foster)
Requiring the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human
Resources develop and present a plan to implement a new
quality-driven process improvement philosophy that will
address the redesign of service delivery systems within the
Department of Health and Human Resources.
Whereas, The Department of Health and Human Resources is
comprised of five bureaus that administer social service programs
to promote the positive growth and development of children, youth
and their families; that provide economic services to those West
Virginians who qualify for food stamps, public assistance payments
and medical services; that administer public health programs to
promote and support the well being of all the state's citizens;
that administer behavior health programs to improve the quality of
life for people with or at risk for substance abuse, mental
illness, or developmental disabilities, and that administer child
support enforcement programs to promote parental responsibility and
minimize taxpayer burden; and
Whereas, The budget for the Department of Health and Human
Resources consumes $842,393,833 dollars of the total state budget;
and
Whereas, The lack of a clear and consistent pay scale within the Department of Health and Human Resources has resulted in high
turnover rates and employee discontent; and
Whereas, The funding needed by the department to provide
required services and to adequately address the salary and benefit
needs of its employees must include savings from a redesign of its
service delivery systems; and
Whereas, Successful systems redesign depends on the
involvement of a cross section of employees in identifying needed
changes, developing a plan to implement changes and accepting the
significant changes as a part of how they perform their jobs; and
Whereas, Significant systems change must include defining the
problems including current benchmarks, setting of annual goals and
targets, measuring the inputs and outputs, analyzing the data,
designing simplified and improved processes, and overseeing the
process implementation to assure benefits and sustain continuous
improvement; and
Whereas, Creating significant and meaningful change in the
service delivery systems in the West Virginia Department of Health
and Human Resources is a multiyear, systemwide endeavor; therefore,
be it
Resolved by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the Legislature hereby requires the Secretary of the
Department of Health and Human Resources to develop and present a
plan to implement a new quality-driven process improvement philosophy that will address the redesign of service delivery
systems within the Department of Health and Human Resources; and,
be it
Further Resolved, That the redesign plan for the service
delivery systems within the Department of Health and Human
Resources reflects the philosophy set forth in this resolution.
This plan shall include the training of a work group, consisting of
at least one hundred participants who proportionally represent
employees and service areas across the department, in bench marking
metrics and problem solving methodology. This group will work with
in-house experts or consultants to disseminate new definitions of
performance expectations for quality outcomes and encourage and
direct on-going system redesign to ensure efficient and effective
service delivery; and, be it
Further Resolved, That the plan would be designed to be
implemented in phases over four years with up to seventy-five
percent of the operating cost savings to be redirected to salary
and benefits of employees of the Department of Health and Human
Resources; and, be it
Further Resolved, That the Secretary of the Department of
Health and Human Resources shall make an annual report to the
Legislative Oversight Commission on Health and Human Resources
Accountability.