Appendix K: DMR Caseloads and Comparative Substantiation Rates with Private Provider Investigations
Current Caseloads
Table K-1 below shows the current caseloads for the DMR lead investigators, including the number of pool investigations supervised by the leads. The pool investigations are conducted by DMR employees with full-time responsibilities in other areas of DMR operations.
While some of the cases noted below may involve private providers, the bulk of those investigations are handled by private agencies themselves and are not accounted for in the table. DMR reports that since May 2000, approximately 31 private provider cases have been taken over by DMR.
Table K-1. Current Caseloads for DMR Division of Investigations Lead Investigators (12/9/02) | ||
Region |
Number of Cases Assigned to Lead Investigator |
Number of Pool Investigations Supervised by Lead |
Eastern |
4 |
17 |
North Central |
4 |
11 |
Northwest |
2 |
31 |
South Central |
8 |
22 |
Southwest* |
1 |
45 |
* In the Southwest Region, the lead investigator supervises all cases, both public and private. | ||
Substantiation Rates
Table K-2 shows, for a three-year period, the substantiation rates for DMR and private providers when they are primary investigators. The differences raise questions about the similarity of the investigations between the private and public investigations, bolstering the concern that DMR client abuse/neglect issues are treated differently solely based on where the clients live. For the years shown in the table, in neglect cases, private provider investigations tend to substantiate neglect more than DMR investigations. For physical abuse cases, in FY 2000, the rates were similar, but not so in 2001, when DMR found physical abuse more often than the private providers.
Table K-2. Abuse/Neglect Substantiation Rates by Primary Investigating Agency and Type of Allegation: FYs 2000-2002 | ||||||||
OUTCOMES |
DMR 2000 |
PRO 2000 |
DMR 2001 |
PRO 2001 |
DMR 2002 |
PRO 2002 | ||
No Neglect |
52% |
47% |
56% |
45% |
47% |
45% | ||
Yes Neglect |
46% |
51% |
42% |
54% |
40% |
44% | ||
No Information |
2% |
2% |
2% |
2% |
13% |
11% | ||
No Physical Abuse |
80% |
78% |
73% |
81% |
73% |
66% | ||
Yes Physical Abuse |
20% |
20% |
25% |
17% |
9% |
23% | ||
No Information |
0% |
2% |
1% |
2% |
17% |
10% | ||
NO Injury of Unknown Origin A/N |
93% |
86% |
93% |
82% |
84% |
80% | ||
YES Injury of Unknown Origin A/N |
7% |
14% |
7% |
14% |
1% |
10% | ||
No Information |
0% |
0% |
0% |
3% |
15% |
10% | ||
NO Sex Abuse |
100% |
86% |
60% |
82% |
43% |
87% | ||
YES Sex Abuse |
0% |
9% |
30% |
18% |
29% |
7% | ||
No Information |
0% |
5% |
10% |
0% |
28% |
7% | ||
NO Verbal Abuse |
69% |
49% |
67% |
68% |
65% |
49% | ||
YES Verbal Abuse |
28% |
47% |
33% |
30% |
29% |
30% | ||
No Information |
3% |
4% |
0% |
2% |
6% |
21% | ||
No Psychological Abuse |
43% |
78% |
78% |
100% |
100% |
60% | ||
Yes Psychological Abuse |
57% |
20% |
22% |
0% |
0% |
40% | ||
No Information |
0% |
2% |
0% |
0% |
0% |
0% | ||
DMR=Department of Mental Retardation PRO=Private Provider Source: DMR CAMRIS | ||||||||