Director's Message

Feb. 10, 2006

To: DHS employees

From: Dr. Bruce Goldberg, DHS Director

Pablo Picasso once said, "Everything you can imagine is real." Sean O'Faolain took it one step further when he said, "There is only one admirable form of the imagination: the imagination that is so intense that it creates a new reality, that it makes things happen." It's in that context, the reality of the present and imagining and creating a new future, that I write to you today.

First 90 days

I have now been DHS Director for a little more than 90 days and it truly has been a great experience. I have enjoyed meeting many of you and learning about your jobs, the department, and our work from your point of view. There are still many who I have yet to meet and I look forward to that happening in the months to come.

When I came on board in November, I was given a chart by some staff as a joke to predict the longevity of my stay. Based on the turnover in DHS directors in recent years, the chart projected my tenure in weeks, rather than years. I'm happy to say I've surpassed that prediction, and as I've said before, so long as I have the support and confidence of you, the Governor, the Legislature and our stakeholders, I have made a commitment to this job and our work for at least the next five years.

Given our projected budget shortfall this biennium, what I've focused much of my energy on in these first 90 days has largely been budget-driven. Just about everything I'm doing lately is in some way related to our budget or federal budget and policy changes.

In fact, this week we had our first meeting of a workgroup to monitor our actual caseload experience against what has been forecast. The group is comprised of legislators and individuals from the Legislative Fiscal Office and Budget and Management. It provided everyone a better understanding of the challenges we face and the steps we are taking to address them. Every time we can share information in a clear, informative, and transparent manner we enhance our work.

I outlined for you in a previous message other steps we are taking as a department to deal with our budget issues. I will continue to keep you updated on progress.

While the current focus on fiscal and financial improvements is critical to our future success, that was not the reason that I took this job. My whole professional career has centered on improving the ways we deliver health and human services and finding ways to help people in need. That is my passion and that is why I am here.

As a family practice and public health doctor, I have been taught to look at the whole patient and the entire community -- bringing in "specialists" where necessary to deal with complex ills. You might have noticed that I apply some of that same philosophy to DHS. The department has been bringing in a number of "specialists" for example to help us with our current budgetary challenges.

While we often focus on what needs fixing, during these first 90 days I have also learned and heard about many successful efforts and others that are very promising. Some of these include:

• A "Master Plan" to improve the future of Oregon's mental health system
• Efforts in emergency preparedness that bring all of our disciplines together
• Efforts to prevent outbreaks of acute illnesses like the flu and to keep us from getting chronically ill from smoking, lack of exercise or poor eating habits
• Planning for the future of long term care
• Efforts to keep our children safe and healthy
• Work around being more vigilant in our financial recoveries and in reporting and uncovering fraud
• Initiatives to improve and streamline processes throughout the department, including modernizing old outdated systems like the MMIS
• Ways that show our customer service commitment -- like the hundreds of hours staff devoted to helping with seniors and others experiencing problems getting their medicines as the federal Medicare Modernization Act was implemented

This list is not nearly complete, and there are many, many other efforts I could mention.

As we continue to look for ways to become more efficient and effective in how we deliver services, I also want us to consider not just how we can do more, but how we can work smarter to accomplish what we need to do.

Recently, we detailed for a legislative interim committee the history of the department dating back to the early 1970s. What was eye-opening to me was that our mission and goals have virtually remained the same yet our organizational structure has changed almost as many times as the New York Yankees have won the World Series (for those of you who are not baseball fans, that's a lot).  Yet, every change had the same outcome in mind -- "improving the outcomes for our clients and communities," "integrating services" and "organizing services around people." We are still trying to do that to this day.

Given that history, what I would like to see us spend more effort focusing on -- once we have our fiscal and financial house in order -- is not how to draw the boxes on an "org" chart, but how we practically achieve what we have been trying to do for decades. We have reorganized a lot. Now is a time to organize. What are the changes that are really needed among our programs, policies or procedures to make this happen in a sustainable way? What are we currently doing (and should stop doing) that brings little value to our clients and communities. And what are we not doing that we should be? You'll hear more about this as the year unfolds. But the messages to keep in mind are:

• organizing our work around our clients, not around our programs or ourselves
• being accountable for outcomes
• consistency
• and efficiency

For example, a client with a certain profile who applies for services in Pendleton should be eligible for the same services as a client with a similar profile who applies in Coos Bay. A client who comes into one of our offices in Polk County should be faced with the same processes and procedures that he or she would find in a Marion County office. And a provider or stakeholder in southern Oregon should receive the same messages and information on a policy issue as one in the Portland Metro area.

Peter Drucker once said, "The test of a healthy business is not the beauty, clarity or perfection of its organizational structure. It is the performance of people." It is clear that we and our policy makers have spent a lot of time on what the organizational structure of this agency should or shouldn't be and I expect that debate will continue.

The challenge for us is to stay focused on making some significant and lasting headway in improving the outcomes for our clients and communities: "getting the right services to the right people at the right time and place." This takes commitment by all of us to be willing to work in different ways and consider different approaches. It is the kind of creative thinking I've seen from people all over this agency -- that will take us from great ideas on paper to more actions that will make a difference in the lives of the people we serve every day.

This message is intended for all department employees. Please read it electronically, if possible. Managers and supervisors are asked to share the message each week with employees who do not have email access.

If you have a disability and need this message to be provided to you in another format, please send an email to dhs.forms@state.or.us, or call (503) 947-5107. You can also fax your request to (503) 373-7690, or call (503) 947-5080 for TTY service. If you know of others who need this accommodation, please let them know it is available.