COFAR blog

The Department of Developmental Services is conducting a “special licensing and program integrity review” in response to allegations of poor care in group homes operated by a provider licensed by the Department.

In an August 8 statement provided to COFAR, DDS Commissioner Jane Ryder also said that DDS is investigating the allegations and is requiring the Springfield-based provider, the Center for Human Development (CHD), to implement a corrective action plan. The Department has also conducted unannounced visits to the residences, Ryder stated.

“DDS takes the health and safety of individuals it serves very seriously, and is conducting a thorough investigation into the allegations,” Ryder added.

Ryder’s statement was provided nearly a month after COFAR asked for comment from her regarding a series of allegations raised by Mary Phaneuf, the foster mother of Timothy Cheeks, a 41-year-old resident of a CHD group home in East Longmeadow.

Last year, Phaneuf began raising concerns with CHD and DDS about Tim’s care, including a lack of proper medical care for Tim and no documented visits to a primary care physician or dentist for seven years. Phaneuf also said there were no documented visits to a cardiologist for six years despite Tim’s having been born with a congenital heart defect.

Last week, CHD acknowledged the missed medical appointments for multiple clients, “failures to follow protocols,” and financial misappropriation in two residences. Those problems include an alleged failure to ensure that Tim was receiving Social Security benefits for at least two years, and the alleged diversion of food stamp benefits from Tim and at least one other client.

Despite the seriousness of those issues, an online June 2017 DDS licensure inspection report for CHD on the DDS website did not mention those or similar problems in CHD’s group homes. It was not clear whether the DDS special licensing and program integrity review is intended to examine whether the DDS licensure process fell short in the CHD case.

The 2017 DDS licensure report for CHD did not appear to note any serious issues with medical care in the CHD’s residential facilities except to state that medical plans for two residents “did not fully address all required elements.”  The report stated that “the vast majority of individuals in the survey sample were supported to receive timely annual physical and dental examinations, attend appointments with specialists, and receive preventive screenings as recommended by their physicians.”

In our July 9 email to Ryder, we asked “whether it is possible that the DDS licensure process is not sufficiently comprehensive or thorough to identify issues such as the ones cited (in the CHD case).”

COFAR also asked Ryder in that email whether DDS reviews abuse or other complaints or investigative reports as part of its provider licensure process. Ryder’s August 8 statement did not respond to either of those questions.

COFAR has called for a comprehensive investigation of the privatized DDS system, and has reached out the the Attorney General’s Office and to state policy makers and legislators for support for that. The Springfield Republican, which reported on Tim’s case last week, noted that Attorney General Maura Healey’s office recently met with COFAR, and quoted a spokesperson for Healey as saying they “are learning more about the issues they (COFAR) raised.”

The Republican  included a statement from James Goodwin, CHD president and CEO, apologizing for the issues raised by Phaneuf.

“The quality of our services — the care and support that CHD and Meadows Homes provide to our clients — is our most important value, and in these cases we have failed in not upholding that value,” Goodwin told the newspaper. “We apologize for these failures. We are committed to making the changes needed to regain the trust of our clients and families at Meadows Homes, and to continue to support their health and wellbeing.”

In a statement previously provided to COFAR, Goodwin listed a number of corrective actions that he said CHD has taken since January, including cataloging all medical visits in a database, tracking communication between guardians and caregivers, requiring more rigorous supervision of program leaders, and developing a system to automatically inform family members and guardians of medical appointments and their outcomes.

In the wake of a series of allegations identified by COFAR of poor care of a group home resident, the president and CEO of the nonprofit group home provider has acknowledged missed medical appointments for multiple clients, “failures to follow protocols,” and financial misappropriation in two residences.

The provider, the Center for Human Development (CHD), is funded by the state Department of Developmental Services (DDS). DDS relicensed CHD in 2017 after issuing a licensure report that did not appear to address those managerial problems.

In an August 1 statement provided to COFAR, James Goodwin, CHD’s CEO and president, said his organization has verified that eight clients in two of its group homes missed a total of 59 medical and dental appointments since 2015.

Goodwin said the missed appointments included primary care visits, specialty care visits, and eye and dental exams, and were “a result of failures to adhere to policies in two homes…”  He said it was “important to note that clients continued receiving prescription medications during this time, so many appointments were being kept.”

“We can’t comment on the specifics of an individual’s care,” Goodwin’s statement added. “We have identified instances of failures to follow protocols and isolated instances of inappropriate use of financial resources. All funds have been fully reimbursed. We acknowledge the need for improvement in oversight and strengthening of policies, and improvement in communications with family members and guardians, and we have taken substantial steps to make those improvements.”

Foster mother detailed a series of care problems

Goodwin’s statements were in response to a July 15 COFAR blog post, which detailed a series of problems with the care of Timothy Cheeks, a 41-year-old man with Down syndrome who lives in a group home managed by CHD in East Longmeadow.

Since late last year, Tim’s foster mother and guardian, Mary Phaneuf, has raised issues with CHD and DDS regarding Tim’s care at the residence including:

• A lack of proper medical care for Tim, including no documented visits to a primary care physician or dentist for seven years;

• No documented visits to a cardiologist for six years despite Tim’s having been born with a congenital heart defect;

• A failure to treat Tim for two years for back pain and a degenerative back problem, and to fill a prescription for pain medication for him;

• A failure to ensure that Tim was receiving Social Security benefits for at least two years;

• The unexplained removal of Tim from his day program run by the Work Opportunity Center (WOC) in Agawam without informing Mary of that fact. (Phaneuf first discovered and raised this issue with CHD in 2017);

• The diversion of food stamp benefits for Tim and at least one other resident of a CHD group home; and

• Erroneous information listed in Tim’s 2018 Individual Support Plan (ISP), including an untrue statement that Tim had visited a primary care physician in September of that year. The doctor listed had apparently not seen Tim since 2011.

Despite the seriousness of those issues, an online June 2017 DDS licensure inspection report for CHD on the department’s website did not mention those or similar problems in the agency’s group homes.

Corrective policies cited

Goodwin said that immediately upon discovering the “failures in the program” in early January, CHD began making “extensive reviews of and changes to policies, increasing oversight and documentation of clients’ medical care and adding additional safeguards against individual failures to adhere to protocols.”

The medical needs of all clients in the program who were affected are now being met, Goodwin said. He maintained that the program failures “can be traced overwhelmingly to the actions of a single staff member.” While Goodwin did not identify that staff member, he was reportedly referring to a former manager of two of CHD’s group homes.

Goodwin also stated that there was “no indication that failures such as these took place at any other CHD programs besides the two Meadows Homes programs.”

Goodwin also said CHD has identified “one instance of impropriety with a food stamp benefit check in one of these programs.” He said all misappropriated funds were immediately reimbursed and that there was “no impact on program function or service.”

In addition, Goodwin said, CHD recently identified one instance of a total of $2,100 in “client money being accessed inappropriately and we have reimbursed the funds.”

A June 7 DDS complaint resolution letter cited two clients affected in two separate residences as a result of an alleged food stamp diversion. Mary Phaneuf also contends Tim is owed $2,400 in missed Supplemental Social Security Income (SSI) funds.

Goodwin’s statement added that “staffing changes and appropriate disciplinary action (have been taken) for personnel involved.” A CHD vice president later declined to say how many employees have been disciplined.

DDS commissioner has not commented on the matter

DDS Commissioner Jane Ryder has not responded to a July 9 email from COFAR asking for comment on the overall case or “whether it is possible that the DDS licensure process is not sufficiently comprehensive or thorough to identify issues such as the ones cited here.”

COFAR also asked Ryder in that email whether DDS reviews abuse or other complaints or investigative reports as part of its provider licensure process.

CHD CEO’s statement largely focused on missed medical appointments

Goodwin’s August 1 statement largely focused on the allegations of missed medical appointments. That, however, was only one of many concerns that Mary Phaneuf said she brought to the attention of the provider’s managerial staff late last year.

Phaneuf told COFAR that while CHD did begin in January to address the problem of missed appointments, the provider did not inform her of any plan it had to discover or address the underlying cause of the long-term neglect.

Phaneuf contended upper-level managers at CHD failed to keep their promise of routinely updating her on managerial changes or issues that directly affected Tim. That changed only after COFAR’s July 15 blog post was published, she said.

“Promises made by CHD and DDS to keep me informed of their progress to improve systems and further discoveries of other violations never happened. Until the blog, I had been ignored for months,” Phaneuf wrote in an email.

Goodwin’s statement to COFAR listed a number of “corrective actions” instituted by CHD “immediately…upon discovering the missed appointments,” including the following:

• “Scheduling and fulfilling appointments to account for those that were missed and otherwise supporting the fulfillment of medical needs of all clients who missed appointments.”

• “Extensive reviews of and changes to policies, increasing oversight and documentation of clients’ medical care, and adding additional safeguards against individual failures to adhere to protocols.”

• A requirement that “all medical encounters … be catalogued in a database accessible to all members of the care team.” The database was implemented in March, Goodwin stated.

• “Regular reviews of medical documentation by nursing staff and senior managers…”

• Implementation of “compliance software to facilitate more effective oversight of medical appointments.”

• “More rigorous supervision of on-site and program leaders is now mandated and checked for implementation.”

• “Development (now underway) of a new protocol to support greater family and guardian engagement in medical decision making and medical care, and a system of automatic updating of family members and guardians on medical appointments and their outcomes.” The new protocol is scheduled to take effect on August 12, a CHD vice president stated.

It is certainly a positive development that CHD has responded to, and taken responsibility for, at least some of Phaneuf’s allegations about Tim’s care; and the corrective actions, if adhered to, should begin to address those problems.

To us, Goodwin’s statement falls short, however, in failing to address all of the allegations, and in largely placing the blame for the situation on a single staff member. When medical appointments are missed for multiple clients over a period of years, the problem points to failures in oversight at top levels of the organization.

In fact, it would have been better if Goodwin had personally accepted responsibility for the issues that Phaneuf raised, and made it clear that he intends to re-examine CHD’s entire managerial culture.

In our view, DDS Commissioner Ryder’s failure to respond publicly regarding this case is unacceptable. Unfortunately,  Ryder has established a disturbing pattern of circling the wagons and not publicly commenting when confronted with questions about her department’s responsibility for problems in the system.

We would also hope that Ryder and other top policy makers in the administration and the Legislature will begin to acknowledge that the problems in this case are not unique. Systematic shortcomings in the care of persons with developmental disabilities in Massachusetts are ongoing and are being made worse by the expanding privatization of services.

A comprehensive investigation of the DDS system is needed, and we would love to see the governor, attorney general, DDS, and key state legislators support that idea.