Posted inHealth, Money, Politics

Change is coming for nonprofit human service providers, but will it make or break them?

It is a time of reckoning for Connecticut’s private, nonprofit social services. After two decades of flat or reduced funding from its chief client — state government — community-based agencies are struggling to retain both their programs and the low-paid staff who deliver care for thousands of poor, disabled and mentally-ill adults and children.

Posted inCT Viewpoints

Connecticut government’s ‘take it or leave it’ approach to providers

Everyone is familiar with the definition of a monopoly. But who has heard of a monopsony? A monopsony is where there is a single purchaser of a service from a pool of many sellers. The State of Connecticut’s purchase of service contracting system, particularly its purchase of human service related programs, is a monopsony. It means the state (the sole purchaser) can set limits on how much it will pay nonprofits (the sellers) for a service. In a monopsony environment, the state basically runs a “take it or leave it” business model. It matters little to the state how much providing that service actually costs.

Posted inHealth

Nonprofits try again to make their case: ‘We’re at a breaking point’

“I’ve had legislators say to me, ‘Pat, every year you come to me and you tell me how difficult it is, but you’re still in business,'” said Patrick J. Johnson, president of Oak Hill, which serves people with disabilities. “And I think as long as we continue to provide the services on the backs of our employees, because that’s how we’re doing it, then the world goes on.”