Monroe County is mandating that CDPAS services must use a new voice recognition phone system to clock in on a shift and clock out. They also will do random spot checks to see if a clocked in attendant is still at the consumer’s home. I see many problems with this secretly developed system that they are now quickly trying to jam down our consumer’s throats.

They said that they were developing this system for “consumer safety”. If their main concern is consumer safety, why didn’t the business card say “Consumer Protective Specialist” instead of “Medical Antifraud Specialist”? This is not a quality of care program. The County is selectively targeting the disability community and CDPAS services in particular. Don’t try to slip us a three dollar bill. This initiative isn’t for all home care services. It is just focused on the service managed by people with disabilities. Discrimination is discrimination no matter how big your smokescreen.

I have several concerns about this new mandated system. Number one is that the County has not thought this through before mandating its implementation. From my perspective, the system will likely produce many false alarms of potential Medicaid fraud and be as effective as the boy who cried wolf. How many false alarms are we to chase down and who pays for all the wasted time? Taxpayers.

If people fail to answer the periodic shift spot check, the system flags them as violators. I am concerned that this may suggest attendants cannot go with consumers out to get a hair cut or shop for groceries. Attendants are also not always available to answer the phone. An attendant may be helping an individual in the bathroom when the phone check occurs. Will the attendant worry that they need to have to run out of the bathroom and leave the consumer unattended so they don’t get flagged for possible fraud? Will they be calling people’s home during the overnight shifts while family members or the consumer are sleeping?

Do County employees put themselves under the same scrutiny? They are getting paid using taxpayer dollars. And they get paid a whole LOT more than attendants. If I call a County employee’s desk and they don’t answer, can I assume they are cheating on their hours and demand my money back? Of course not.

If an attendant’s shift starts at 9:00 and for whatever reason the attendant cannot make their call right at 9:00 and calls in 15 minutes late? Do we pay the attendant for a 9:00 actual start or a 9:15 start like the phone record may indicate?

The County staff also seemed shocked when we said CDR provides sick and vacation time to the CDPAS attendants. Their system doesn’t address the need to request and pay for such benefits. I guess the County didn’t even consider that attendants should get leave benefits. How would County employees feel if this assumption was applied to THEM?

It seems like this system is just designed to go after poorer people. And I bet someone with a lot of money is making a lot more by doing this.

I am also concerned about the fact that the system requires the use of the consumer’s phone. If the consumer has a tracfone like I do, each call reduces the prepaid minutes even though it’s a toll free number. Is the County mandating that the consumer pay for this? Or is the county mandating that to get CDPAS service at all they must have a working phone?

The County never talked about reimbursing consumers for the use of the phone. I am very careful with my minutes and can see that the cost could become a barrier for some people. If a consumer’s track phone minutes get used up or if the consumer’s phone gets shut off, the attendant won’t be able to call in and will be flagged as a violator.

I know people leave their homes for many reasons, but many people make their voice heard on ADAPT actions, just like the one held in Washington, DC. The County seemed shocked when I pointed out that a consumer’s location may be on a bus to DC to participate in a protest. From the reaction, I guess consumers aren’t allowed to do these kinds of things.

This sounds like “House Arrest”.

Perhaps ankle bracelets would be a cheaper alternative.

The County still seems to think in terms of consumers being warehoused and locked away. They don’t get the “Community” in “Community Based Services.” They may say they do (perhaps to be politically correct), but their actions speak otherwise.

There are other problems as well. They have no mechanism for access if the attendant is Deaf and uses a TTY. When I asked about that, they said “Uhh…we will need to look into that.” I would think the County would be aware that we have the highest per captia number of Deaf people in the country. It seems that access for the Deaf community isn’t a priority for them. Will Deaf individuals automatically be flagged as “violators” under this system?

What about consumers and attendants who don’t speak English? One person at the meeting said CDR is responsible for providing an interpreter. I’m not sure how that would even be possible. Another said we must teach all of the Spanish-speaking attendants to use English. They said they successfully “trained” a Russian-speaker to use the English system without a problem. Now roll over and play dead. Good boy, have a Scooby snack.

I personally think it is a big waste of tax payer dollars and a big boondoggle. They must have watched the last Batman movie “Dark Knight” and want to turn all cell phones into high frequency generator receivers. This is unethical, dangerous, and wrong. Spying on people with disabilities is not part of my job description. They want to catch the Joker, but at what cost?

What’s next, WebCams so we can SEE that the attendant is working?

What kind of Orwellian world are we marching toward?

Sie sind unter Misstrauen Ihrer Regierung.

You are under suspicion of your government.

Also, at the meeting they told us the implementation date is May 1st of this year. They showed us the system for the first time on May 4th. We better jump in our Delorean and go back in time to get all the data in the system and call everyone in to train them how to use it.

Finally, what other technology will they use next? Perhaps they will just micro-chip all CDPAS consumers and attendants and have a GPS alert when they are separated by more than 100 yards. We already put micro-chips in dogs.

For the record, I’m all for hunting down and stopping Medicaid fraud, but this is just intrusive and a huge waste of taxpayer funds. I believe this system will cost more than it saves and add a lot of additional complexity.

Who’s idea was this anyway?

What is their name? And what is their job title?

Step into the light, so the people can give you proper recognition.