Senior services to see agency changes
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Three longtime Pittsburgh area social service agencies that have coordinated care for the Allegheny County Area Agency on Aging's thousands of senior clients are losing their contracts to do so.
AAA officials have sought to reassure the 4,100 participants who receive services in the affected in-home help program that they won't feel any impact from having new coordinators of their services. The agencies losing their contracts express concern about disruption from the overturn of personnel and knowledge.
"Our biggest concern is you've taken organizations out of this that have long-standing relationships with the county and with the clients we've been taking care of," said Anthony Turo, executive director of Ursuline Senior Services.
As of July 1, he said, Ursuline will no longer be arranging the government-subsidized care of about 1,700 individuals age 60 and older and more than 30 employees who have assisted them will lose their jobs, unless an appeal of the contract decision through the county's law department is successful.
The AAA also will be dropping the case management services of the Lutheran Service Society and Hill House Association in the county agency's main program, known as Options. Dozens of the three agencies' social workers will lose their positions.
In their place, the county AAA has awarded new contracts to two providers, Family Services of Western Pennsylvania and Familylinks, in addition to renewing its relationship with LifeSpan, which will continue serving many clients in southern and western parts of the county.
It is the first change of coordinators in 15 years for the Options program, in which about 4,100 Allegheny County older adults are allocated lottery-funded services such as personal care assistance and housekeeping, based on their need and resources.
The case management agencies involved in the program don't deliver the in-home services themselves -- they receive payment through the county contracts to meet with aging clients and evaluate their needs. They then arrange with private service providers to send workers into homes and handle a variety of approved tasks.
First Published February 13, 2012 12:22 am
