In January, Douglas Lavery, a Community Companion Homes provider for the state’s Department of Developmental Services (DDS), shared with Inside Investigator his struggle with frequently delayed payments from DDS. Now, Lavery said he is experiencing issues with Aspire Living and GT Independence, two companies subcontracted by DDS, who are leaving him scrambling for needed paperwork a week before his relicensing, and unable to staff his home.
“I believe the state and these private agencies should not be causing any stress on providers,” said Lavery. “Caretaker burnout; It’s a big thing nowadays, right? I have it. These people are causing it for me.”
Lavery cares for three elderly men with disabilities who live with him in his home in Waterbury, who require 24/7 care and assistance. As a result, Lavery relies on a team of home health aides whom he pays out of pocket and receives reimbursement from DDS. Due to consistent delays in DDS reimbursement, Lavery often had to delay payments to the aides, which culminated in three of them quitting six weeks ago.
“I had three people just walk out the door on me because they’re tired of it,” said Lavery. “I’ve lost people that have been with me for six years.”
GT Independence provides payroll services for DDS. Lavery must go through GT Independence to hire replacement staff, but has been told that he can’t, because he is not recognized in their system as his patients’ representative. Lavery was told the issue stems from his never having filed a Self-Directed Support Agreement (SDSA) with DDS, a form completed by home care recipients and their caretakers, which would vest Lavery with the power to hire staff. Lavery said that since his staff predates the state’s contract with GT Independence, he had never encountered this issue until now, and had not known the form even existed.
“GTI is not talking to me because I’m not known as a representative there, even though I’m a vendor and my number comes up and all that, my guys never signed any paper with my name on it,” said Lavery. “And how would I ever know that, right, if I never knew about the form? So when staff came in, you know, the caseworker or the Department of Disability Services, they never gave me any support contracts to sign.”
Lavery said DDS officials should have provided him with the form, and that Aspire, which manages training and maintains paperwork for him and his staff, should have known if it wasn’t filled out. Since discovering the oversight, Lavery has gone back and forth with GT Independence representatives numerous times to try to resolve the issue. Each time, Lavery said the representatives ask to talk to his patients directly, which Lavery said they can’t do due to the nature of their disabilities. Lavery said that for over two years, he’s wondered why he can’t access GT Independence’s online portal to view his health aides’ payroll, and only recently discovered that the lack of SDSA is what’s kept him from doing so. Lavery said that his loss of staff and inability to hire new staff have made his life and the lives of his clients more stressful.
“One worked with Richard (one of Lavery’s clients), with his chickens, and ducks and turkeys,” said Lavery. “Richard’s 80 years old, he’s been taking care of his animals for 21 years, but I had to get rid of them because I’m not able to do that with him. Richard is devastated over this.”
Lavery said for the past six weeks, he’s had issues getting in touch with GT Independence representatives to figure out what needs to be done to rectify the situation.
“You call them, and they’ll say, ‘We’ll get back to you in 24 to 48 hours,'” said Lavery. “So, they don’t call me back in 24 to 48 hours. When they do call me back, they take my information, and then they won’t call me back for another 24 to 48 hours. This keeps going on and on and on.”
Lavery said his staffing issues are made worse by Aspire Living. Aspire is supposed to provide him with a behaviorist, a nurse, and a financial monitor who visits his home every month to ensure his finances are in order. Aspire is also responsible for keeping the medical records and respite profiles for Lavery’s patients. Lavery said the financial monitor hasn’t come around for months, and that an Aspire representative notified him on April 8, a week before he must submit this paperwork for his yearly CCH re-licensing, that they can’t find any documentation for him in their system.
“I got a phone call from Aspire that, unfortunately, they have no paperwork at all regarding my guys,” said Lavery. “I’m a week out from licensing. I’ve never been cited, but I’m sure I’ll be getting cited now.”
Lavery said Aspire is chronically understaffed and has been running a “ghost ship for three years.” He believes the paperwork issue stems from the departure of Gail Skrzypiec, who was Aspire’s Director of Day and Residential Services. Lavery said she was his sole contact at Aspire for years, working as “the behaviorist, the monitor, everything,” until she left the company in March. Now that she’s gone, Aspire told Avery there is “no paper trail” regarding his patients.
“My guys are probably paying Aspire $70,000 a year, maybe more, for services they have not received in over a year,” said Lavery. “It’s fraud. Aspire is, for three years, accepting money from my clients, and my clients are not getting full services.”
Lavery said that he had gone back and forth with various DDS professionals last year in hopes of finding another service to transition over to, and was told to “give it a little time” for things to straighten out.
“A year goes by, and here we are now,” said Lavery. “You know, the last two months, I’ve been paid on time, which is good. But now I can’t hire anybody — It’s one thing straightened out, two other things that are going wrong.”
In January, Lavery told Inside Investigator that he believed several health problems he’s experienced have been brought about by the stress caused to him by his experiences as a CCH provider. Now, he wonders whether or not this stress will cause him to break the promise he made to his clients.
“I promised them 21 years ago to carry them through this life until they go to the next life,” said Lavery. “I’m just trying to get to that point, but I don’t know if they’re gonna go first or me, because something’s gonna happen.”
Representatives from Aspire Living and GT Independence could not be reached for comment.
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