English
For Immediate Release
Contact: Steve Mehlman, Communications Director
916-583-7002, 916-804-2569 (cell)
Sacramento (April 19) – A statewide program enacted during the Schwarzenegger Administration to investigate fraud in the In Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program is wasteful and duplicative and has spawned abuse by investigators, according to witnesses at a Department of Social Services stakeholders meeting here today.
IHSS home care providers from the UDW Homecare Providers Union described examples of threats by fraud investigators in Stanislaus and San Diego Counties. Among the IHSS clients being investigated were a quadriplegic Vietnam veteran from San Diego and a bedridden woman from Stanislaus County suffering from Cerebral Palsy and Epilepsy, according to their providers.
“A climate of fear pervades IHSS recipients and providers in many communities,” said Jovan Agee, UDW’s legislative director. “A lack of coordination and poor state oversight has created a climate of minimal accountability in which abusive practices and egregious violations of personal rights have taken root in several counties.”
Agee said that, despite the expenditure of $20 million over the past two fiscal years for anti-fraud activities, there has never been a detailed cost benefit analysis, either at the state or county level. “The people of California are entitled to know the outcome of this substantial expenditure of taxpayer money,” he said.
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RELATED:
- Feedback from IHSS Fraud Stakeholder Meeting in Sacramento: Consumers and providers cite abuses by fraud investigators; demand a direct say in shaping anti-fraud protocols
- IHSS advocates push back on plans for unannounced home visits
