Sanction could shut down organization for senior citizens in Trumbull County


By Ed Runyan

runyan@vindy.com

WARREN

A sanction recommended by the Ohio Department of Health could shut down SCOPE Inc., the Warren-based nonprofit agency serving senior citizens, said Ralph Smith, who has been in charge of the agency since April.

After a hearing in Columbus in June, a hearing examiner recommended a permanent revocation of SCOPE’s Provider Certification as a Long-Term Care-Agency.

SCOPE has has the certification since 1991.

Loss of that certification would mean SCOPE would no longer be eligible to provide services reimbursable by Medicaid. SCOPE received about $470,000 worth of funding from that source last year.

Because of laws and rules that SCOPE violated, the Ohio Department of Aging in April suspended SCOPE’s ability to receive federal funds pending the June hearing.

The sanctions also caused Trumbull County commissioners Paul Heltzel, Frank Fuda and Dan Polivka to suspend SCOPE from receiving money from the countywide senior-citizens levy for in-home services. That cut off about $290,000 in funding SCOPE had received last year.

The problems did not stop the commissioners from awarding $431,575 in May to SCOPE to operate its six senior-citizen centers for the current year, and SCOPE was able to continue with a popular prescription drug program, Smith said.

Losing the in-home services and then closing SCOPE’s senior-citizen daycare program has caused SCOPE to reduce its staffing level from 105 employees at the start of the year to 32 now, Smith said.

Despite the reorganization Smith has carried out since coming on board, SCOPE suffered through cash-flow issues three weeks ago that nearly caused the agency to close the doors.

“We’re surviving now with the help of private foundations and donors,” Smith said.

Though SCOPE would still be eligible to receive county and private funds if its Provider Certification was revoked, Smith said the loss might forever tarnish SCOPE so that it wouldn’t survive.

“It’s a big hit, and it goes on forever,” Smith said. “It wouldn’t take much more to put us out of business.”

Smith said SCOPE has corrected the personnel-related problems it was having, and the people responsible are gone. No clients were harmed, and no money was misappropriated, Smith said.

He is hoping the state might consider a sanction that stops short of a permanent revocation, such as a one-year or two-year suspension.

Heltzel said he would like the state to give SCOPE a chance to survive.

“I think it’s a harsh penalty,” Heltzel said of permanent revocation. “They took steps to correct the problems, which were management problems. I think they’re in a position to rebuild the institution.”

Commissioner Fuda said Smith has turned SCOPE around since coming on board.

“We feel the new director is working hard and they have new board members,” Fuda said. SCOPE has done a great job over the years. It seems they were trying to do more than they were capable of doing. Now they need some help operating at a different level than they were operating at before.

“Since they do a lot for seniors, we want them to get back on track.”

The Ohio Department of Aging reviewed SCOPE employment records in February and found that the agency had not done background checks on 22 employees who provided direct care to clients. SCOPE also failed to secure background checks for 29 others and hired two people with criminal records, the ODA said.

The agency’s director, Janet Schweitzer, retired shortly after the findings were made public.

During the June appeal hearing, Smith testified that Schweitzer was unable to keep up with the dramatic increase in SCOPE services.

The ODA hearing examiner, Sharon W. Murphy, wrote in an August report that the “reckless” failure of SCOPE to ensure that its workers had no criminal history “warrants the most severe sanction.”