Olmsted County to transition targeted case management services from Family Service Rochester to Child & Family Services
The Olmsted County Board of Commissioners strives to make fiscally responsible decisions in the best interests of residents, the community, and the Olmsted County government organization. In alignment with that philosophy, on October 3, 2023, the Administrative Committee of the Olmsted County Board of Commissioners voted to transition Child Welfare Targeted Case Management (CW-TCM) and Children’s Mental Health Targeted Case Management (CMH-TCM) services from Family Service Rochester (FSR) to Olmsted County Child and Family Services. The annual cost savings of this transition is estimated to range between $200,000 and $400,000.
Olmsted County will honor the current contract with FSR which is set to expire on December 31, 2023. Olmsted County and FSR will work though a transition to ensure those receiving services will be minimally impacted and not experience a lapse in service.
Olmsted County would like to stress that this decision was not made because of any concerns about performance or the partnership with FSR. This decision was based on financial and human resource implications.
“FSR has always provided outstanding service to Olmsted County and the community. The county and FSR will continue to collaborate on various services and programs, both now and in the future,” explained Olmsted County Deputy Administrator of Health, Housing, and Human Services Travis Gransee.
Gransee continued by saying that due to a Minnesota Department of Human Services’ rate redesign process for contracted providers of targeted case management (TCM) services, new rates were put in place in July 2022. TCM is a Medicaid-reimbursed service and the rate changes impacted contracted providers differently than counties.
“This resulted in increased costs for Olmsted County for this contracted service with Family Service Rochester,” Gransee noted. “That begged the question of whether Olmsted County could save local taxpayer money by bringing this work in-house. After thoroughly analyzing the financials, the answer was ‘yes.’”
It should be noted that FSR was not Olmsted County’s only partner in targeted case management work – although it was certainly the largest. Olmsted County also has contracts for CMH-TCM with Zumbro Valley Health Center and Fernbook Family Center, both on a much smaller scale, and these contracts are not being impacted by this decision.
Olmsted County is not expecting that clients receiving targeted case management services will experience any significant changes as a result of this transition.
“Collaboration with Family Service Rochester will continue to be a priority moving forward. We will partner with them to provide services as a part of our service continuum for families in this community and thank them for their dedication to this work,” explained Olmsted County Director of Child and Family Services Amy Rauchwarter.
Olmsted County has been discussing this potential transition with FSR Executive Director Scott Maloney for several months to allow FSR time to prepare for any impacts this change might have on the organization’s operations.
“Olmsted County values its partnership with Family Service Rochester – a partnership that has been in place for decades. We will continue to collaborate with FSR on other county initiatives as FSR is a tremendous asset and has been a great partner in serving youth, seniors, and families in our community,” explained Olmsted County Board of Commissioners Chair Gregg Wright.