'It's disgusting:' State agency leaves millions on the table despite 100 vacancies, long call wait times

PROVIDENCE - "Unacceptable."

That was the response Thursday from Senate Finance Committee Chairman Louis DiPalma to the explanations so far for why millions of budgeted dollars went unspent – and100 jobs remain empty – while the average call wait time for people trying to get help from the state agency that handles cash assistance, child-care subsidies and Medicaid is close to an hour.

"I say this respectfully: it's not anything new. It should have been addressed much before now ... We still have people on hold 45 minutes, 50 minutes, an hour ... That's unacceptable. It just is," said DiPalma, following the release of an end-of-year report reflecting more than $1 billion in budgeted, but unspent, dollars overall, including $16.9 million at the state's Department of Human Services.

Added Stacy Smith, who is both a DHS employee and head of the Council 94, AFSCME local that represents "eligibility technicians" at the agency:

"I am flabbergasted, honestly, to know that there is $16.9 million on the table for positions that we have already had approved ... and they're sitting on this amount of money to get staff in the door and we don't have them. And every day I have members coming to me stressed. They're ready to quit their job. They're going on a leave of absence because they're so mentally drained and physically drained."

"It's disgusting," she said. "I'm disgusted."

McKee administration says funds unused because jobs are hard to fill

Spokesmen for the McKee administration say the unspent $16.9 million is attributable to more than one arm of the Department of Human Services - including the divisions of veterans and elderly services - and the $4.4 million specifically earmarked for staffing the front-lines wasn't used because the jobs are hard to fill.

But SEIU Local 580 President Matt Gunnip, who leads one of the other unions representing front-line workers at DHS said this:

"For over two years, DHS has had over 100 vacancies and we know the McKee administration inherited this systemic mess ...[but] the definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting a different result."

As it stands, "we have a call-center crisis, as we are the third worst in the United States with wait times for our most vulnerable. We have the opportunity to use this funding to address this crisis. We supported the pay scale increases for our hardworking administrators, but we can't have it both ways and not provide that same support to frontline staff."

In a back-and-forth exchange over two days this week, DHS spokesman Jose Garcia sought to explain why an agency, already struggling with with backlogs and what is now an average 59-minute call wait time, did not spend all of the money legislators appropriated for it in the year that ended on June 30.

"The primary reason for the $16.9 million surplus is due to personnel vacancies," he said.

Excluding the amounts left unspent by the divisions of veterans and elderly services, he said "the unspent surplus on personnel vacancies at DHS only is $4.4 million," and the rest at the divisions of veterans and elderly services.

How many employees is DHS short, and why can't they hire enough?

Drilling down, he said DHS is running 100 employees short of the 773 for which it was appropriated funding by the legislature.

"Retention remains a challenge across all state offices and is evidenced in the heightened hiring activity at DHS. The public sector also faces competition from the private sector during this tight job market. "

He said 50 of the 100 openings are for eligibility technicians. At this point, there are 13 people lined up so far for the 100 openings and are "awaiting a start date."

Asked why DHS has not more quickly filled these vacancies - which have been a running concern to legislators, he said: "The Department of Human Services and Department of Administration work closely to fill vacancies as quickly as possible."

More: RI has a bigger budget surplus than anticipated. These are the agencies that underspent.

Local 2882's Stacy Smith acknowledges the state cannot hire fast enough to replace all of the workers who are leaving, but she said the reason so many leave is the stress placed on them day after day because of short staffing.

"There's so many reasons," she said. "Issues with training. Issues with the way that staff are being treated, the amount of work that's being thrown at us and not having enough staff to be able to combat that ... We're seeing clients face-to-face and we're not able to get through the work that we have ...[so] they're calling the call center more and more and we're not able to get through them."

"We are just short staffed every day," she continued. "It's the same thing."

A companion issue: 40 of 267 approved and funded jobs in the veterans affairs division - including 39 at the Rhode Island Veterans Home - are vacant. (These openings are in addition to the 100 DHS openings that Garcia cites.)

"These vacancies are a result of the nationwide health care staffing shortage, which was in existence prior to – and exacerbated by – the COVID-19 pandemic. The Office of Veterans Services is constantly recruiting to fill these vacancies and has undertaken additional steps to attract talent to fill these essential positions" Garcia said.

What are the current call wait times/application processing times?

"DHS Call Center wait times will vary by program. Currently, the average wait time for all incoming calls is approximately 59 minutes. Customers who opt to use the call back functionality, available on a strategic basis in the mornings, have an average wait time on the phone of 17 minutes."

With one exception, he said the average number of days to get an application approved is anywhere from a week to three weeks in most cases, but as much as 75 days for applications for state and federally subsidized assistance to pay for long-term care.

Rather than call a hearing - or send a letter - DiPalma on Thursday said he would call DHS Director Kimberly Merolla-Brito and her team directly to ask: what can the legislature do to help?

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Rhode Island DHS underspent budget, despite openings, long call wait times