Well That Was Fun!

January 04, 2022

For those of you who got buried under a foot of snow – I do hope you are digging out, warming up, and finding important things like your car or whatever got buried!  And I hope that you suffered no serious damage.  We are never big fans of change and that, was quite the change!

Just a short update on a couple of things:

• We are still waiting for announcements from the Governor-Elect on most Cabinet and Agency-head appointments – specifically the ones related to Health and Human Resources.  We will keep you posted.
• The new House leadership has named most of the committee chairs, we may not know until the first week of Session who will remain and who will change on key committees. 
• We have “patrons” for all of the Budget Amendment requests – since they must be filed by 5pm on Friday, 14 January (and the Session does not begin until Wednesday, 12 January) it seems to always be a mad dash to get patrons lined up and the requests written, approved and filed.  Seems like this year we are ahead of the rush.   The details of the rates amendments are here.
• We are also starting a new conversation about the larger issues with behavioral health services for children and adolescents – stay tuned for how you can be part of that conversation.
• I did some poking around in the CONNECT system – no one is complaining, but I suspect that everyone is too busy to care.  Most of the more challenging parts have not been fixed:
  • We have not been informed if the “HelpDesk” continued after the 17th of December
  • The list of CAPs in CONNECT is still not a list of CAPs, but rather a listing of when a Specialist accessed the OLIS system (we think that was the “filter”)
  • The link to search for a provider on the Office of Licensing page is still, or again, not working, but the one on the DBHDS Home screen is working.
  • When you search for details of an inspection or investigation under a provider’s name – links do not work there either.
  • The background check page still reflects multiple “pending” reports going back many years; at least now it has been reordered by year of request.!

Just a last note – 120 day letters are going out; this will give existing appointees 120 days to “fill-in” while we are waiting for the Governor-Elect to complete his slate of appointments.  Sadly, the individuals who remain do not have much incentive to step up and do the right thing!