Seniors sitting on wait lists, poor employee morale flagged in audit of SC Aging agency
Drawn to the coast, mild weather and low taxes, South Carolina’s senior population is booming.
But the state agency responsible for ensuring services to South Carolina’s most vulnerable population has not kept pace with that growth and, at the same time, is facing shaky employee morale that has dogged the department for years, according to a new state audit out Monday that reviewed the cabinet agency’s practices and policies and whether it was complying with state and federal law.
The number of seniors — age 60 and older — skyrocketed by more than 300,000 people, or 40%, in the last decade, the audit said.
However, the annual number of seniors receiving services through the state’s Department on Aging — from home to meal services — only increased 1.3% in the same time span, and fewer seniors actually received services during fiscal year 2017-18 than in fiscal year 2008-09.
Meanwhile, seniors are waiting for services around the state, according to the S.C. Legislative Audit Council’s review of regional agencies that get support from the Office on Aging. Statewide, 1,817 seniors are waiting for home meal delivery and 1,603 are waiting for personal care services, the audit said. However, the Office on Aging itself “does not track the number of people on waiting lists or how long they have waited for services.”
The audit continued: “A significant number of individuals are on waiting lists for aging services, but SCDOA has no viable plan for reducing the number of individuals on waiting lists.”
The audit — which also highlights a lack of consistent leadership, low employee morale, outdated formulas for determining spending and problems with public communications — comes after Aging, a low-profile state agency that until recently was run by the state’s lieutenant governor, has come under scrutiny. Last year, lawmakers raised questions about S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster’s appointment of a long-time friend and political supporter with a real estate background to run the agency.
Lawmakers who requested the audit in April last year had concerns about the agency’s organization and structure, contract issues, employment policies and practices, the agency’s compliance with federal and state laws, and its use of best practices, the audit said.
“It’s always been a kind of agency put to the side,” said state Sen. Katrina Shealy, R-Shealy, who chairs the Senate’s Family and Veterans’ Services Committee and with eight other senators requested the audit. “Now, I hope it’s going to be a more cohesive agency where it can build on that. One of the reasons I wanted this audit was to see what the problems were and to move forward from there.”
The wait times for seniors are a result of a lack of funding or inability of service providers to meet the demand, the audit said after interviews with state agency officials and officials with the 10 regional aging agencies spread across the state.
South Carolina’s aging agency gets funding every year through the state budget and federally-approved grants. Last year, lawmakers doled out more than $18 million for Aging, bringing the agency’s total budget to more than $52 million. Aging then distributes that funding to regional agencies.
“The large disparity in the number of individuals on waiting lists between regions and between types of services suggests that funding may not be optimally allocated,” the audit said, adding the Aging agency said it had developed a plan to address wait lists.
But, the audit said, the agency does not have its own plan to reduce those wait times and instead has deferred to the individual regions to come up with their own.
A representative with the state’s aging office did not immediately respond to The State’s request for comment.
However, the agency’s new director, Connie Munn, responded to the audit in a June 17 letter, arguing that the regional aging agencies and their providers’ clients are responsible for the wait lists.
“The SCDOA provides funding and policy and program guidance to deliver the services,” Munn said, adding the agency does review waiting list data and will continue to track the list to make it better. She said that funding alone will not “eliminate waiting lists, but the availability of resources, staff, and transportation issues that can preclude services being provided.”
The state’s COVID-19 outbreak has only exacerbated that problem, she added.
“The harsh reality is, as seen during the COVID19 pandemic, waiting lists can never fully be eliminated due to the growing number of seniors in need of services,” Munn wrote.
Yet according to the audit, the agency uses outdated population data in its formula that it uses to send dollars to area agencies.
“This practice could result in a misallocation of funding,” the audit said.
Employees dissatisfied
Beyond wait times, the Office on Aging also has faced problems with employee morale.
An employee survey included in the audit found that slightly more than half — 52.9% — of respondents marked they “strongly disagreed” that the agency is free of “back-biting, talking maliciously behind someone’s back.” No one “strongly agreed.”
And only about 15% of respondents answered they “strongly agreed” that employees care enough to help one another.
Asked whether there is a “positive team spirit” in the agency, nearly 9% of respondents said they “agreed” and “strongly agreed.”
“Morale over there needs to change and people need to embrace the change,” Shealy said, referring to new leadership. “Sometimes you may not like the change, but you have to embrace the change to be part of the change.”
The agency also has had inconsistent leadership.
South Carolina is one of 16 states that has a standalone department focused on seniors led by a director appointed by the governor, the audit said, and only since January has the state’s Department on Aging been under Munn’s leadership. For years, the agency was run by the lieutenant governor. That role was eliminated and made a Cabinet agency.
Of the 16 states, only three have eligibility requirements for their aging agency directors. South Carolina does not, it said.
The agency has had 10 different directors since 2003.
Munn’s appointment followed a rather testy debate over her predecessor, Stephen Morris, who was appointed by the governor.
Last year, state senators voted against the nomination of McMaster’s longtime friend, frustrated by his lack of experience and complaints from employees. The Senate approved Munn for the job in January. She has a background as a mental health counselor.
“She took over an agency that wasn’t really an agency before,” Shealy said. “So, I think we’ve got to work with that a little bit.”
In her letter, Munn said that many of the Audit Council’s recommendations have been identified and corrected.
“... It has been challenging, at best, for the Department staff to work with ten different directors since 2003,” Munn said. “Within that timeframe, the Department has continued its efforts to accomplish their mission of enhancing the quality of life for older South Carolinians by advocating, planning and developing resources and partnerships. The staff at SCDOA are dedicated and knowledgeable in their job duties and work closely as a team to ensure that the programs we administer are in compliance with federal and state laws. In the report where deficiencies are noted, many of these have already been addressed and policies and procedures are in place.”
This story was originally published June 29, 2020 at 12:57 PM.
