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The Amazingly Resilient Status Quo
Katied gave us this thought to close today's show on the start of the 2011 legislative session. Here's the part I read on air:
I think the governor is right that this is an historic opportunity, and that what he suggests needs to be done, but my experience in trying to actually make these kinds of changes is that inertia, resistance, internal turf wars, special interests, etc., etc, etc. means that the status quo has an AMAZING elastic resilience, even in the face of disaster. People all want and need change .... for somebody else.
Two of our guests had a chance to respond during the program. After the show, Ryan Fisher, a lobbyist with the Human Services Coalition of Oregon told me he would have pointed to restructuring at the Department of Human Services last year as a victory over the powerful forces against change that katied mentioned.
Later he emailed more details. I've quoted his email below. Do you have other examples?
The Transformation Initiative at the Department of Human Services is a great example of a comprehensive restructuring of service delivery with the end goal of providing better service at lower cost. Highlights include:
- Cutting the wait time for food assistance by nine days. Although applicants have increased by 48 percent since July 2008, today about 90 percent of clients are being seen the same day or next day.
- Fast-tracking the hiring of 85 Certified Nursing Assistants at Oregon State Hospital to reduce mandatory overtime for staff that provides direct care to patients at the psychiatric facility.
- Moving more than 1,200 Medicaid clients from nursing facilities to less expensive, long-term care settings better suited to the client’s needs.
- Making process changes that prevent DHS from paying or having to recover Medicaid or Medicare funds from claims a third-party should pay, saving DHS money and cutting the time health plans and providers spend correcting client information.
