ST. PAUL – Minnesota’s Department of Human Services (DHS) Commissioner Jodi Harpstead visited the members of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee early in December to share her 90-day report on her progress in the position.
DL-Online initially reported that Harpstead primarily focused her message towards the conclusion of the investigation against former DHS Inspector General Carolyn Ham, a lack of penalties for improper department spending and Gov. Tim Walz’s intentions to not hold counties responsible for DHS financial errors.
In her first 99 days in office, Harpstead was given the task of revitalizing the DHS following a switch of certain higher-level department figures and the revelation of improper use of federal funds for several years this past summer.
Minnesota Department of Human Services Commissioner Jodi Harpstead
| mn.gov
Following a months-long investigation into fraud allegations against Ham, Harpstead told the Senate that she would examine the closing report and agrees with the decision to keep Ham instated in her position. She did mention, however, that it will take time before any trust in Ham can be regained.
"I think the only way that I think you'll be able to see we have the best talent in place is to see it over time and to see it perform and watch our team as we go forward," Harpstead said to the committee.
Harpstead had previously spoke with a legislative panel on how the investigation closed with no public evidence found and no disciplinary action was taken.
On a similar note, department officials and employees that were involved in approving federal funds for unapproved payments to provide addiction treatment centers to Minnesota counties are also not being punished. This is mainly due to department errors in documentation.
Harpstead stated to the Senate that the department will now need two signatures in order to authorize any funding in order to prevent any future unauthorized payments.
"The people at the Department of Human Services need a better process and they need to know how it's supposed to work and they need to follow that," Harpstead said. "If they haven't been given a robust process to use to make these decisions, it's hard to reprimand them. They're doing what they believe their jobs are."
Walz also restated his intentions this week to not hold any counties or tribes responsible for the financial mistakes mentioned above. The DHS issued letters to counties this week requiring them to repay the government nearly $9 million in total to provide care to patients who qualified for special treatment they were unaware of.
Harpstead is currently looking into alternate solutions to repay the federal government for this error, while other lawmakers have argued the department should cut its budget somehow to pay back their debts.
Committee members ultimately praised Harpstead for placing a high priority on employee concerns and looking for ways to revitalize the department, but showed concerns of how transparent the department seems to be with the committee.
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