Bill Text: WV SB388 | 2021 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Creating Office of Quality Assurance and Evaluation within DHHR

Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2021-03-12 - To Finance [SB388 Detail]

Download: West_Virginia-2021-SB388-Introduced.html

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WEST Virginia legislature

2021 regular session

Introduced

Senate Bill 388

By Senator Maroney

[Introduced February 22, 2021; referred
to the Committee on Health and Human Resources; and then to the Committee on Finance]

A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated §49-2-130, relating to the creation of the Office of Quality Assurance and Evaluation for child welfare programs within the Department of Health and Human Resources.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:

Article 2. State responsibilities for children

§49-2-130. Office of Quality Assurance and Evaluation for child welfare programs.

(a) The Office of Quality Assurance and Evaluation for child welfare programs is created within the Department of Health and Human Resources under the direction of the secretary.

(b) The Office of Quality Assurance and Evaluation shall establish performance measures for the child welfare system and for services provided to children with serious emotional disorders served by the department. The office shall establish performance measures for the following areas:

(1) A healthy workforce for caseworkers in the Bureau for Children and Families;

(2) Child abuse and neglect reporting, screening, and intake process;

(3) Services to families to protect children in the home and prevent removal or re-entry into foster care;

(4) Stability of foster or kinship care placements;

(5) Permanency goals for the children served by the child welfare system;

(6) Services to the children, parents, and foster parents served by the child welfare system, including transition services for children aging out of foster care and services to kinship caregivers and children living with kinship caregivers;

(7) Caseworker visits with the children and the families served by the child welfare system;

(8) Services to children with serious emotional disorders served by the department;

(9) Services provided by residential mental health treatment facilities with particular focus on out-of-state facilities; and

(10) Other performance measures that become apparent to the department.

(c) The primary duty and focus of the Office of Quality Assurance and Evaluation include the following, which may be undertaken in collaboration with the Bureau for Children and Families’ Division of Planning and Quality Improvement:

(1) To establish a continuous improvement system that aligns and measures outcomes for children and families in the child welfare system and outcomes for children with serious emotional disorders served by the department across the bureaus of the department and other state agencies serving children;

(2) To develop approaches for integrated real-time data sharing, aligned outcomes, and collective accountability across state agencies; and

(3) To conduct quality assurance and evaluation of programs within the department that provide services to children with serious emotional disorders or who are served by the child welfare system.

(d) The secretary shall consult with nationally recognized subject matter experts in the development of the Office of Quality Assurance and Evaluation.

(e) Beginning on December 31, 2022, and annually thereafter, the Office of Quality Assurance and Evaluation shall provide a report of the outcome measures listed in subsection (a) and any recommendations for policy changes to the Governor and the Legislative Oversight Committee on Health and Human Resources Accountability.

 

NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to create the Office of Quality Assurance and Evaluation within the Department of Health and Human Resources in order to evaluate the child welfare system and services provided to children with serious emotional disorders and to continuously promote the improvement of the child welfare system. 

Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from a heading or the present law and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.