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SCOPE funding cut over violations
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
A state review found that SCOPE Inc. of Trumbull County was not following several Ohio laws and rules.
As a result, about 40 senior citizens who received PASSPORT services from SCOPE have been assigned to a different service provider.
PASSPORT is a program offered to senior citizens who qualify for Medicare that allows them to get long-term services to help them stay in their home instead of enter a nursing home.
Concurrently, the Area Agency on Aging 11 will suspend as of the end of this month the contract AAA has with SCOPE to provide Title III services. That program paid SCOPE $42,251 in 2011 to provide homemaker, supportive services and recreation to senior citizens.
The Ohio Department of Aging determined by reviewing SCOPE’s employee files Feb. 22 and 23 that criminal background checks were never performed on 22 employees who provide direct care to clients, including one who has been employed more than six years, the ODA said in an April 9 document.
SCOPE also failed to secure back-ground checks within five business days of his or her hiring for 29 other employees, including one who has worked for SCOPE for nearly eight years, ODA said.
SCOPE also hired two employees with criminal records — one in 2008 and one in 2010 — to work directly with clients when the offenses should have prohibited them from being hired, ODA said.
ODA also found that one of SCOPE’s employees served four months last year in a position that required certification as a registered nurse or licensed practical nurse, even though she didn’t have either of those certifications.
Janet Schweitzer, executive director of SCOPE, did not return a phone call Friday afternoon seeking comment.
The findings have caused the ODA to suspend SCOPE from providing PASSPORT services until after a hearing. The document notifies SCOPE that it has until May 9 to request a hearing on the matter.
SCOPE received $426,734 for its PASSPORT services in 2011. It reported revenues of between $1.7 million and $2.4 million per year between 2008 and 2010.
John Ratliff, spokesman for ODA, said his agency now must determine whether ODA should impose a financial sanction, such as requiring SCOPE to repay money improperly obtained by SCOPE; revoke SCOPE’s certification to provide PASSPORT services; or reinstate SCOPE to the PASSPORT program.
Meanwhile, at a meeting Friday afternoon, the board of directors of the Area Agency on Aging 11, based in Niles, voted unanimously to suspend as of the end of this month the contract AAA has with SCOPE to provide Title III services.
AAA also last week removed SCOPE from a caregiver support program that paid SCOPE $18,905 in 2011, said Lisa Solley, AAA spokeswoman.
Genevieve Bauman, president of the SCOPE board, attended Friday’s AAA meeting but had no comment on the actions of the AAA board or Ohio Department of Aging.
Solley said Friday AAA took action because of concerns for the health and safety of senior citizens being served by SCOPE.
“You want to be sure the person going into the home doesn’t have a criminal background,” Solley said of service providers.
Frank Fuda, Trumbull County commissioner, said commissioners have sought a legal opinion from the Trumbull County Prosecutor’s Office on whether SCOPE’s problems with the ODA should warrant disruption of funding from the county’s senior citizens levy to SCOPE.
SCOPE has been receiving around $700,000 per year since 2007 from the levy that Trumbull County voters approved in 2005. SCOPE receives the money to provide a variety of services to seniors, such as operating six senior centers.