Stanislaus:

Home care fraud unit gets Stanislaus County supervisors’ support

By Garth Stapley The Modesto Bee
Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2012 Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2012

Weeding out people who cheat Stanislaus County’s home care program helps keep it healthy for those who need and deserve it, county supervisors said Tuesday.

They voted unanimously to spend more local money on a fraud unit rather than let it dissolve because state leaders are withdrawing financial support.

Mike Loza, regional coordinator for a union representing thousands of home care providers, said the money should be used to improve orientation instead of policing In-Home Supportive Services. Providers receive only two hours of training, hardly enough to grasp a “complicated, sophisticated program,” he said.

“We have never stood before you supporting fraud,” Loza said, although dozens of United Domestic Workers members previously protested what they called strong-arm tactics by fraud investigators.

The unit has saved more than $4 million in tax money since forming in 2009, said Christine Applegate, the county’s Community Services Agency director. Referring to her report, county Supervisor Jim DeMartini noted that investigators save $8.12 for every $3 spent in a combination of local, state and federal money. Read more

Stanislaus Townhall Brings UDW Members & Community Leaders Together

See more photos of this event

UDW members and family, staff and community leaders met on December 5th at local IBEW hall -

This AFSCME sponsored Town Hall Meeting connected local members and supporters with political candidates and legislators. .

Get involved with your local Stanislaus Chapter to stay informed on current events.

See More Stanislaus Chapter News.

Stanislaus County Eyes Cuts in Pay for Workers

Supervisors urged to look for alternatives as union talks go on

Modesto Bee
By Garth Stapley

Prolonged agonizing over budget cuts took a turn Tuesday when it became clear that Stanislaus County leaders, in closed-door labor bargaining, are demanding additional major concessions from their 3,607 remaining employees.

Contracts with the county’s 12 labor unions, including two years of 5 percent pay cuts, expire in July. Restoring pay, plus new retirement obligations, could plunge the county $26 million further into an ever-darkening hole, said Patty Hill Thomas, assistant chief executive officer.

Bargainers are not supposed to air negotiations publicly, said Rick Robinson, the county’s chief executive officer. Read More

Stanislaus: UDW wins contract with county

Article from Modesto Bee, May 25 2011. (See 2nd bullet under Supervisor Agreements)

West Park builder will have to pay; Reimbursement sought for county worker time

The developer of a future Crows Landing industrial park will pay $169,000 to reimburse Stanislaus County staff for time spent reviewing environmental documents, county supervisors unanimously decided this week.

Gerry Kamilos, who has 13 months to produce plans and studies for West Park, has not paid for staff time in four years because county officials figured they had a vested interest in drawing 17,000 jobs to the former Navy air base. Read the rest of this entry »

Stanislaus providers need to make sure they have the right form for fingerprinting process

WARNING!

The Stanislaus PA has experience problems with caregivers using old Live Scan forms. They can no longer get results from the old form. If you use the old form you will be required to redo and repay for your for your fingerprints. Use only the Link2Care Live Scan form. It has the Link2Care AORI # of AD597 and lists Jeff Lambaren as the agency contact.

UDW Northern Counties Rally to Make Safety a Priority

Wednesday, January 19th, UDW members from El Dorado, Merced, Placer and Stanislaus rallied in solidarity for SAFETY in Health and Social Services. “This is the time to repair our Safety Net – not destroy it!“

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MENSINGER: Home aid program helps families, local economy

COMMUNITY VOICES

By John Mensinger, Modesto Bee January 5 2011

The Bee has carried recent articles about long-term care for seniors. This is a subject my family knows too much about. My mother was disabled by a stroke when she was 70. My father, 75 at the time, went out of his way to care for her but wasn’t in the best shape himself. My parents had deep experience with the Great Depression. They worked hard and had ample savings. They could afford to pay for caregivers so they could stay in their home. Occasional help gradually became a 24-hour-a-day presence as my father’s back and cardiac problems were made worse by dementia.

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In-home care workers criticize Stanislaus fraud investigators

News10 abc MODESTO, CA – Patients and workers from the In Home Support Services industry in Stanislaus County took their complaints about fraud investigators to county supervisors Tuesday. Read the rest of this entry »

Emotional protests over cuts to Stanislaus County home-care providers

Rhetoric in Tuesday’s heated meeting on Stanislaus County’s treatment of home-care providers included angry comparisons to Hitler and to British occupiers during the Revolutionary War. Facing a proposed pay cut from $9.38 an hour to the $8 minimum wage, home-care providers in a 2½-hour hearing painted county leaders as insensitive, ivory-tower rulers who are “taking from the poor and giving to the rich.” Read the rest of this entry »

Supervisors will tackle home-care program woes

When adopting a budget last month, Stanislaus County officials set aside just $46 million for a home-care program expected to cost nearly $60 million. They might lessen the gap by slashing pay for home-care providers from $9.38 to the $8-per-hour minimum wage. But a union disagrees and a vocal contingent of providers has become increasingly testy in weekly protests before the county’s Board of Supervisors. The issue is building toward today’s showdown, when supervisors will hear a report examining the wage dispute as well as objections to a fraud unit. Read the rest of this entry »

Stanislaus County video — Protest at Board of Supervisors

Mike Loza, UDW Northern Regional Coordinator, rallies homecare providers at Stanislaus Board of Supervisors in preparation for speaking publicly before the board, September 14, 2010. See video — Read the rest of this entry »

Stanislaus “Fraud Investigations” denounced in Huffington Post

California’s War on the Elderly and Disabled: A Dispatch from the Front Lines

“Backed by anxious supporters, some on crutches or in wheelchairs, nearly two-dozen passionate speakers on Tuesday railed against “Gestapo” tactics of Stanislaus County home care fraud investigators.” –Modesto Bee, Sept. 1, 2010

A flawed and mean-spirited attack by right-wing ideologues on some of California’s most vulnerable citizens has begun to sprout poisoned fruit in California’s Central Valley.

Using some of the millions of dollars distributed by the Schwarzenegger Administration in the name of fighting fraud in the In Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program, Stanislaus County earlier this year created a Special Investigations Unit. Read the rest of this entry »

Open Letter to the Citizens of Stanislaus County

For several months, uniformed agents from a Special Investigations Unit (SIU) created by our county have been conducting unannounced raids on homes; harassing and intimidating elderly, blind and disabled citizens; and arbitrarily cutting people’s homecare services. Read the rest of this entry »