iowa charter agencies

Iowa Charter Agencies

Achievements to Date

The single most important achievement is that Charter Agencies are lifting their eyes from rules to results.

For the Directors and staff engaged in Charter Agencies, the new deal creates a new reality. What we achieve for Iowans is now more important than pleasing administrative rule keepers.

Getting things done is more important than not doing anything wrong.

While the momentum is only beginning to build, Iowa’s Charter Agencies can already document these improved results:

Charter Agencies show improvement in the outcomes for those they serve. Examples:

DHS

• As a result of Child Welfare Redesign, stays in shelter care have been reduced by 20% or 10 days. This means that children are moving more quickly to the most appropriate level of care or are able to return home. Either way, kids are better off and we have more money to serve others.
• 33% more low-income children now have access to health care coverage via the hawk-i program (July 1, 2003 to Dec. 31, 2005).
• The first quarter DHS implemented their Preferred Drug List for Medicaid prescription drugs Iowa saved $1.7 million. (January-March, 2005)
• Increased the number of eligible Iowans receiving food and nutrition benefits by 69,000 (a 44% increase) in the last two and a half years.
• Increased Title IV-E eligibility (for child welfare services) from 28% in June, 2003 to over 45% in March, 2006. This increase means we are able to leverage more federal funds to serve more kids and families who need help.

DNR

• Reduced turnaround time for air quality construction permits from 62 to 6 days and eliminated a backlog of 600 in six months
• Reduced turnaround time for wastewater construction permits from 28 months to 4.5 months.
• Reduced the turnaround time for landfill permits from 187 to 30 days.
• Reduced the time for corrective action decisions on leaking underground storage tanks from 1,124 days to 90 days.

All the above reductions were accomplished without sacrificing environmental standards or quality.

• In FY04, Pollution Prevention Interns helped Iowa companies save more than $2.2 million through the adoption of environmental efficiencies. Savings in FY05 reached $4.1 million.

Veterans Home

• Reduced by 40% the number of residents who have moderate to severe pain. Nine percent now experience this pain, compared to 15.5% in FY03.
• The Veterans Home compares itself to other long-term care facilities in Iowa using 32 Quality Indicators. We started FY04 with 55% of those measures exceeding the performance of other facilities. The most recent performance (end of FY06) shows the Veterans Home exceeding others in 66% of those measures.
• The Iowa Veterans Home has improved their admissions process. In FY04, 69% of admissions were completed within 30 days. That rate has now increased to 90%.

Corrections

• More probationers are successfully completing their probation periods; we reduced the failure rate by 17%.
• Effective services to inmates provided by Corrections have resulted in an increase in recommendations for release to the Parole Board by 5% over the comparable period a year ago.
• Overall inmate labor experience (in hours) on community service projects is up 7% through the first three quarters of FY05. The increase for women inmates during this time period was 24%.
• Provided good work experiences for 50% more women inmates than before Charter Agencies, while reducing operating costs by $700,000 per year. Women inmate work experiences are also increasing because Corrections and Administrative Services are partnering in printing, meaning that new printing work will be done at Mitchellville. This development also shows synergy between Charter Agencies and Entrepreneurial Management at DAS.

Revenue

• Improved the rate of income tax returns filed electronically from 55% to 67%.
• Improved the rate of individual income tax refunds issued within 45 days from 75% to 94%.

Alcoholic Beverages Division

• Increased alcoholic beverages-related General Fund revenue by $9.7 million in FY04 through variable wholesale pricing, increasing investment in supplier-discounted products, and decreasing operating expenses. FY05 revenue increased by $11.6 million over the FY03 baseline.

Achievement of the annual $15 million target for savings/entrepreneurial revenues:

Charter Agency budget savings/entrepreneurial revenue contributions for FY04 totaled more than $22 million, exceeding their $15 million target by close to 50%. $20 million was achieved in FY05.

Responsible use of Charter Agency authority and flexibilities to improve service and make better use of resources. Examples:

• Replaced a wrecked car in a matter of days, instead of 15 months (independent purchasing authority).
• Reduced turnaround times on personnel actions from months to days (independent personnel authority).
• Corrections saved $200,000 by developing a new pharmaceutical bidding process and renegotiating drug costs (independent purchasing authority). More savings are being achieved by increasing the number of telemedicine visits from 313 in FY03 to 468 in FY04.
• DNR saved $38,281 per year by bringing contracted work back in; DHS converted five contracted positions to FTEs and saved $210,000 per year (no FTE cap).
• Saved money on air tickets, e.g. Des Moines-San Antonio for $444 instead of $656 (independent purchasing authority).
• Eliminated the M-40 form, speeding intern hiring from 10 days to one day (independent personnel authority).
• Revenue was able to hire a promising Masters in Economics graduate of Iowa State University away from another state because Charter Agency authority enabled the department to flex the salary range to match the market BEFORE the interview. Traditionally, they would have had to ask for an exception after the interview, which would take weeks, by which time the candidate would have often accepted another, better offer (independent personnel authority).
• Veterans Home, Corrections, and DHS are creating their own employee recognition methods, best suited to them (independent personnel authority).
• Revenue was able to “overlap” a new CFO with the departing CFO who had been in place for over 20 years (independent personnel authority).
• DHS and Vets Home waived administrative rules to correct personnel system “errors,” in one case to provide compensation already earned and in the other to recognize an employee who took on extra work and saved her department $18,000 (independent personnel authority).

Improvements in agency results were expected. But Charter Agencies also told us about the unexpected. They reported a liberating and energizing effect beyond specific flexibilities. A “halo” effect. They are experiencing real culture change. Examples:

• The Departments of Human Services and Corrections consolidated pharmacy purchases to save money.
• The Alcoholic Beverages Division is implementing three major on-line systems to better serve their customers: on-line liquor licensing, tax reporting and payments, and product ordering.
• The Department of Corrections collaborated with the local casino/racetrack and the Animal Rescue League to create a thoroughbred retirement farm that now provides work opportunities and rehabilitation for inmates, and a humane retirement for race horses.
• The Veterans Home and Corrections partnered to turn an old kitchen area into an outpatient clinic.

None of these actions was impossible pre-Charter, but Charter momentum made them happen. Similarly, the new reality of Charter Agencies has energized agency staff, improved morale, and opened the door to creativity.

A final aspect of this achievement is new awareness and acceptance by those most invested in the rules. Charter Agencies have so far allayed the fears of legislators, media, and central control agencies. The sky has not fallen. There are no glaring examples of that famous trio: waste, fraud, and abuse. However, the bureaucratic lions remain poised, ready to pounce.

The new Charter Agency “deal” is changing minds in these agencies. As the cynicism fades and staff realize that the new deal is real, which they doubted at first, they are becoming more creative, assertive, entrepreneurial, and even excited. Iowans benefit.