State Treasurer Scott Fitzpatrick Archives

Missouri nursing homes to get promised $90 million in relief, “not enough” says advocate

June 24, 2020 By Ashley Byrd

When Missouri state legislators passed a special budget to direct federal stimulus spending, it included $90 million to help nursing homes cope with a virus and accompanying respiratory disease that preys on its population of older, ill patrons.

But, as budget veteran Rep. David Wood explained, the budget amount was just a placeholder, giving the governor the authority to spend that money if and when it comes from the federal government.

Treasurer Fitzpatrick presides over working group meeting for CARES Act funding.

The supplemental budget passed on April 8 and the awaited help for the nursing homes may come soon. Missouri Treasurer Scott Fitzpatrick leads the working group to dispense the money, with the governor’s approval. He says the group will be meeting in the next week or two to review the next allocation of the $1.26 billion remaining from the federal relief funds to the state.

Since then, the estimate of nursing home needs has grown.

At the beginning of the crisis, nursing home needs were overlooked and underestimated, according to Nikki Strong, executive director of the Missouri Healthcare Association, the state advocacy organization for licensed long-term care facilities.

“We put a lot of time, a lot of effort into a really legitimate ask that, in my opinion, still won’t cover the cost nearly what I know now versus what I knew in March,” Strong said. “If we were to do this over again, I would probably say that $90 million does not come near in covering what many of our facilities across the state are incurring to deal with COVID.”

She said the facilities are now getting more access to testing, PPE’s and telemedicine, but can always use more.

Add to that, she said these facilities are “chronically underfunded.”

“We were 26 dollars per patient per day, on average, underfunded based on the cost reports we filed, mandate cost reports. Funding has always been a significant issue. We were in bad shape before COVID, after COVID from a financial perspective, we were in really, really bad shape,” Strong said. She says there have been dramatic increases in food costs, PPE’s, medical supplies, pharmacy, and oxygen.

Fitzpatrick said the formula for handing out this money has changed.

Now, instead of the previous per diem formula, nursing homes will apply for reimbursement for actual costs like PPE or hazard pay.

Fitzpatrick said state budget staff has been stymied by vague guidelines and have until the end of the year to work out the best way to spend the remaining funds.

“We have been hoping and waiting from additional feedback from (the U.S.) Treasury that will help us make better decisions moving forward because what we don’t want to do is get trigger-happy in spending this money really quickly and then find out they’ve made some clarification that would make that use of the money not acceptable or they open up a bunch of different uses for the money and we wish we wouldn’t have spent it the way we spent it,” Fitzpatrick told Missourinet.

Missouri to ramp up COVID-19 testing next week but who’s paying for it?

May 21, 2020 By Alisa Nelson

State officials hope to complete about 7,500 coronavirus tests daily starting next week. During today’s briefing, Gov. Mike Parson says the plan will focus on three main testing strategies – box-in outbreaks, sentinel testing, and community sampling.

“This will allow us to keep the virus contained by identifying and isolating additional positive cases as quickly as possible,” says Parson. “Once our testing numbers are up, we will be able to re-evaluate and determine what is needed moving forward. The more testing we do, the more knowledge we have on what the situation in Missouri actually looks like and the better equipped we are to move forward.”

Gov. Mike Parson

The box-in approach will target long-term care sites, including nursing homes and assisted living centers for senior citizens, by testing staff and residents facility-wide. The goal with this strategy is to identify and isolate additional positive cases as quickly as possible. By “boxing-in” outbreaks in these places, this strategy aims to keep the virus contained and prevent further spreading.

Parson says 163 Missouri long-term care centers have had at least one COVID-19 case.

Sentinel testing is planned for next week at state-operated veterans nursing homes, prisons, and mental health centers in 28 counties over a ten-day period. Performing the periodic testing helps to identify and isolate not only symptomatic individuals but also asymptomatic individuals to keep them from unknowingly spreading the virus within the facility.

Community test sampling is also planned next week in six counties over ten days, including in Boone, Cape Girardeau, Greene, Jackson, Jefferson, and St. Charles. State Health and Senior Services Director Randall Williams says election for community sampling is based on locations with the ability to draw participants from a broader region as well as locations that have expressed a need for additional testing resources. It is not based on the number of COVID-19 cases in these counties.

Community sampling is intended to give the state a better sense of COVID-19 prevalence in a given area to help guide its response and ease uncertainty. Parson says if prevalence is low, this will help reassure citizens that it is safe to begin re-engaging in the community and returning to somewhat normal operations. If prevalence is higher, Parson says steps will be taken to keep the virus from spreading further in the community but did not elaborate on what this would look like.

How’s the testing being paid for?

“All the testing is pretty well right now going to be paid out of the CARES Act for COVID-19,” says Parson. “There’s a lot of money on the local levels for testing – that’s what we’re really emphasizing that money they’re sending out. So the local levels are going to be responsible too. The state is not going to come in and do their testing for them for free. If they have the funds and the resources to do it, whether it be the counties or the health departments, they’re going to have to help with that. Number two, when we go looking kind of in the private sector when we’re going around there, if the companies have the ability to pay for it through the insurance companies, they’re going to have to pay for that also.”

Due to a glitch, Kansas City has been left empty-handed when it comes to federal coronavirus funding and its corresponding counties don’t seem to want to play ball and share the aid Washington sent to them. Parson says he’s willing to help with testing in Kansas City, but he doesn’t want to open up a can of worms.

“We’re not going to get in the middle of turf battles up there. I mean that’s an issue up there between the counties and the city and that region,” says Parson. “So I’m not sure if that’s my place to fight that battle. We’re here in a support role to help them. I don’t think the state is here to take over the local levels and tell them what to do and what not to do.”

On Thursday, an informal group appointed by the governor to advise him how to spend CARES Act funding coming into the state held a public meeting. State Representative David Wood, R-Versailles, takes issue with local health departments footing the bill for testing services through local CARES ACT funding.

“Basically, you have no plans of sending money down, even though they are doing your work and they are funded through you, you’re having them compete for the dollars that are sent to the county,” asks Wood. “I’ve made that point in budget committee numbers of times that if Health and Senior Services is receiving additional funds from COVID money, whatever pot it’s coming from and they are not passing on to the people doing the work, that to me is … (mumbled expletive).”

State Treasurer Scott Fitzpatrick says Missouri has about $1.5 billion in federal funding to work with after buying personal protective equipment for state health and frontline workers.

CARES Act spending team hears the up-to-date coronavirus needs of Missouri agencies, businesses

May 21, 2020 By Ashley Byrd

The informal advisory group appointed by Gov. Mike Parson heard a wish list from a series of state agency and organization leaders about how to spend CARES Act funding coming into the state.

State Treasurer Scott Fitzpatrick says Missouri has about $1.5 billion to work with after buying personal protective equipment for state health and frontline workers. As CARES Act money — and mandatory guidelines — come from the federal government, the team will recommend spending priorities to the governor.

Fitzpatrick says the panel is “still in information-gathering mode.’

The team met for more than four hours at the Capitol and remotely on Thursday. In the first hour, Missouri DHSS Director Randall Williams briefed the panel on the state’s approach to testing and how it could be paid for. Williams explained a three-pronged approach to add to current PCR (nasal swab sampling) infection tests given to individuals who ask for it.

“Boxed-in” approach:
Williams says there will be outbreaks and each county needs to be ready to address those flare-ups by testing everyone involved.”We go in and test all the staff, all the residents because we know when this gets into congregated facilities, whether it be prisons or cruise ships or nursing homes or cruise ships, this tends to be very infectious,” Williams said. He said Medicare and Medicaid will pay for this testing and he wants health care facilities to seek this insurance rather than the state pay for it. State Budget Director Dan Haug says the state will reimburse large facilities and agencies through $135 million from coronavirus relief funds recently allocated for testing.
Community sampling:
Williams says communities are asking DHSS to come in to do “snapshot” or random sampling to extrapolate from a small number what a larger number of cases might be. The department sampled 12 counties three weeks ago and found nine COVID-19 cases out of 3,000 tested. They are now testing in Buchanan and Andrew County. St. Louis County will be testing 5,000 people to be paid for locally. Other locations to be tested.
Sentinel testing:
The health department picks areas of high morbidity and mortality or long-term care facilities to do periodic testing. Williams says there is a plan to put these in place around the state, in order to predict outbreaks before large-scale hospitalizations.

Versailles Republican, Rep. David Wood took issue with local health departments having to foot the bill for testing services, relying on local general CARES funding to the county to be allocated to them.

“Basically you have no plans of sending money down, even though they are doing your work and they are funded through you, you’re having them compete for the dollars that are sent to the county? I’ve made that point in budget committee numbers of times that if Health and Senior Services is receiving additional funds from COVID money, whatever pot it’s coming from and they are not passing on to the people doing the work, that to me is … (mumbled expletive).”

Unemployment, tourism, job training needs

Chris Slinkard, Director at Missouri Division of Employment Security discussed the health of the state Unemployment Trust Fund.

“The trust fund at the beginning of this year was at almost $1.1 billion, the largest in state history,” he told the panel. “On May 18, 2020, the UI Trust Fund balance was $858 million; the majority what was given out has come from the U.S. CARES Act.”

Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry President and CEO Dan Mehan

Missouri Chamber of Commerce President Dan Mehan also spoke to the group, seeking more attention for the state’s apprenticeship and internship program for workers who may not get their jobs back.

“If you look at where we would prioritize, it’s about the testing and it’s about the people. It’s about the apprenticeship and internship approach that when people talk infrastructure, the term shovel-ready got kind of a bad connotation, we have shovels in the ground in these apprenticeship programs and they are working,” Mehan said.

Mehan also said that businesses opening up need some help by a temporary law.

“We sent a letter to the governor two days ago asking for a special session to consider lawsuit protection. There are a lot of employers out there that are fearful or reopening their doors for fears being sued for whatever possible reason even though they try to open responsibly, safely, with PPE and try to follow CDC guidelines, guidelines of the state and we’d just like to have some sort of temporary — not global — but temporary immunity from lawsuits that could occur from this. We’ve seen hundreds crop up around the country. The fear of lawsuits is going to hinder our recovery in a big way,” Mehan said.

Stephen Foutes, Director for the Missouri Division of Tourism reported losses compared to the normal brought in by sightseers and visitors.

“Approximately $2.16 billion in tourism-related spending has been lost from February 29 through May 9 of this year as compared to roughly the same time last year, ” Foutes said.

“Since early March both the tourism economy and the industry employment have plummeted,” he added.

One-third of the tourism industry in Missouri has filed for unemployment.

Zora Mulligan released information from a public and private college and university survey on how higher education institutions are trying to cope with budget cuts and the demands of creating online learning.

“If I have one big takeaway from this survey is that institutions worked really hard, as did students, to figure out ways to make this work this spring semester. But if this is to be a longer-term strategy, we’ve got a lot of additional investment that we’re going to need to make in terms of professional development, advising, infrastructure, student capacity, and then the larger broadband system in which this operates,” Mulligan summarized.

Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s Jeff Falter agreed with Mulligan that broadband capacity across the state is a major problem.

“Districts report an estimated 23 percent of students are without internet access — or one out of every five students,” he told the panel.

State CARES Act team OK’s direct relief money to counties next week

April 28, 2020 By Ashley Byrd

A bipartisan team of lawmakers, agency chiefs, and other advisors is helping Gov. Mike Parson to stay on top of massive amounts of federal money coming into Missouri for coping with COVID-19.

The working group appointed by the governor made its first major move Tuesday to clear $500 million in CARES Act funding to be spread out among counties and St. Louis City. View the allocations by county.

State Treasurer Scott Fitzpatrick chairs the group and says he has been preparing the counties to get this money.

“This is a lot of money. We’re going to get $521 million that for some counties represents a substantial portion of their operating budget for an entire year. The expectation I have tried to set in the conversations I have had, that they administer grants to other local government entities, whether it be their health departments, ambulance district or hospital district that has costs that have not been reimbursed from another source,” Fitzpatrick explained.

The checks could get to the counties about a week from today if the governor approves the spending.

Tuesday’s first meeting of the group also dealt with applying federal guidelines and a very general overview of state spending on coronavirus response — from public safety to testing. The CARES federal funding must be applied to direct costs from dealing with COVID-19 after March 1, 2020 and prior to December 30, 2020.

Though the $6.2 billion state supplemental budget serves as a guide for those allocations, members agree the challenge is discerning which agencies and businesses need the help and are not “double-dipping” with other aid coming directly from non-CARES Act aid.

“Things are changing pretty quickly,” said State Budget Director Dan Haug. He says he learned today that DESE is getting a separate $117 million for meals to schools.

“Things are still rolling in as we speak. We want to take a global look at this so that if they are getting $117 for meals then maybe we don’t need to provide money for meals and we can use that money more effectively somewhere else,” Haug said.

Haug says his division will provide the group with an accounting of all of the money coming into Missouri outside of the state budget, for instance, the recent relief to hospitals that came directly from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Two Democrats added to governor’s coronavirus funding work group

April 23, 2020 By Alisa Nelson

House Democrat Kip Kendrick

The State Treasurer’s Office says two Democrats – State Representative Kip Kendrick of Columbia and Senator Karla May of St. Louis – have joined Gov. Mike Parson’s coronavirus funding working group. Members are tasked with recommending to the governor the best way to spend $2.3 billion in federal money to combat the virus.

Kendrick is the ranking Democrat on the Missouri House Budget Committee. As a state representative, May served on the Budget Committee and was the ranking minority member of the Subcommittee on Appropriations – Public Safety, Corrections, Transportation and Revenue.

Parson has been criticized for not originally including any Democrats, women or people of color on the panel. State Treasurer Scott Fitzpatrick, a Republican from southwest Missouri’s Shell Knob, is the chairman of the group. Before Parson appointed him to serve in his current role, Fitzpatrick was the House Budget Committee Chairman.

Sen. Karla May (photo courtesy; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

“I think at the end of the day the governor is interested in having a group of people that will have relevant experience and can provide results to him,” Fitzpatrick tells Missouri. “The demographics things are, I think, kind of a secondary concern.”

Other group members include State Budget Director Dan Haug, Missouri Public Service Commission Chairman and former Missouri House Budget Committee Chairman Ryan Silvey, Missouri House Budget Committee Vice Chairman David Wood, State Sen. Lincoln Hough, R-Springfield, Department of Natural Resources legislative liaison Rich Germinder and Dan Burgess, legislative director for Missouri U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt.

“I think what the governor was trying to accomplish was having some legislative input, some federal input with a member of the federal delegation staff representative there, somebody from a staff level from the executive branch as well as the budget director and myself and then also Budget Chairman Ryan Silvey,” says Fitzpatrick.

So far, Missouri has had at least 208 coronavirus related deaths and more than 6,100 people have tested positive for the respiratory disease. COVID-19 is disproportionately affecting African-Americans in Missouri.

Missouri Treasurer Scott Fitzpatrick (Photos courtesy of the Treasurer’s Office)

Fitzpatrick says Missouri has already received $1.18 billion – half of the total federal allocation. The rest of the money could come later this week. The state is still awaiting federal guidance on the way it can spend the money in response to the coronavirus.

Auditor Nicole Galloway, a Democrat challenging Parson for governor, is reviewing the way the state is using the funding.

Fitzpatrick says he hopes to have the first meeting next week. It will be held in a public setting. The location is unknown at this time.

DHSS: Missouri now has 110 COVID-19 deaths

April 12, 2020 By Brian Hauswirth

State health officials say there are now 4,160 confirmed coronavirus cases in Missouri, along with 110 deaths.

The state Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) announced the latest numbers on Easter Sunday afternoon. The numbers have increased from Friday’s total of 3,799 cases and 96 deaths.

Missouri Governor Mike Parson signs the $6.2 billion supplemental budget to fight COVID-19 on April 10, 2020 in Jefferson City (photo courtesy of Governor Parson’s Flickr page)

Governor Mike Parson (R) signed the historic $6.2 billion supplemental budget on Friday, the largest supplemental budget in Missouri history. It’s aimed at battling the COVID-19 pandemic, which has cost thousands of jobs across the state.

The governor said Friday that the supplemental provides access to federal funding under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act, which was signed by President Donald Trump in late March.

The CARES Act includes $150 billion in relief to states to help them mitigate coronavirus-related costs in the calendar year 2020.

Some of the funding will also be used to assist local governments with expenses incurred from COVID-19. State Rep. Kip Kendrick, D-Columbia, has been urging the Parson administration to send additional money to local health departments, saying they are critical to containing the coronavirus.

Kendrick is the ranking Democrat on the House Budget Committee.

Governor Parson has created an informal working group to make recommendations on best use of those federal dollars. State Treasurer Scott Fitzpatrick (R) is the leader of the working group.

The governor will deliver his next media briefing Monday afternoon at 3 in Jefferson City.

(VIDEO) Key points from today’s COVID-19 briefing in Missouri

April 10, 2020 By Alisa Nelson

At least 96 people have died in Missouri from the coronavirus. The latest state data shows nearly 3,800 people have tested positive for the respiratory virus.

Gov. Mike Parson (Photo courtesy of Governor’s Flickr page)

During today’s briefing about COVID-19, Gov. Mike Parson says he has signed into law a coronavirus relief package. The plan, passed this week by the Missouri Legislature, gives the governor up to $6.2 billion in spending power. It takes into account nearly $6 billion in federal aid but whether Missouri ends up getting that much is still up in the air.

The plan includes:

$1.5 billion in federal funds to local governments
$600 million for temporary hospital sites
$150 million for personal protective equipment
$100 million for hotel rooms that doctors and nurses can stay in to prevent their families from getting sick
$90 million for nursing homes
$40 million for food banks and Meals on Wheels
$20 million in childcare funding to help keep daycares afloat
$20 million in block grants for quarantine and treatment facilities, testing and diagnoses and delivering meals to quarantined individuals
$11 million for continued activation of the Missouri National Guard

Parson announced today that he has launched an advisory work group to study the state’s greatest use of the funding. State Treasurer Scott Fitzpatrick will head the panel.

State Treasurer Scott Fitzpatrick (Photo courtesy of Governor’s Flickr page)

“As we all adapt and respond to these unprecedented times, we need to make sure these dollars are put to work and put to work in the best way for Missouri to get back on its feet, put the economy back to work and get Missouri families moving forward again,” says Fitzpatrick.

Missouri Public Safety Department Director Sandy Karsten says the state is delivering more than 96,000 surgical masks to front line workers. The state is expecting another 41,000 face shields and 41,000 other shields to arrive today and through the weekend. She says about 3.5 million surgical masks are expected to be delivered to Missouri next week. Karsten says shipments are also starting to come in from Missouri businesses who have been working to make these items for the state’s response efforts.

Some states have reported being outbid by the federal government for medical equipment, like ventilators, surgical masks, N95 respirator masks and gowns. Sometimes it’s the Federal Emergency Management Agency coming in and buying all the supplies from under them. Neighboring Kentucky, Colorado, and Massachusetts have reported FEMA swooping in and outbidding them.

Missouri Public Safety Department Director Sandy Karsten (Photo courtesy of Governor’s Flickr page)

“Never again will I be dependent totally on foreign countries or companies outside the state of Missouri. We’ve got too many opportunities in this state – too many good people. And next time we’re going to be prepared with our own state companies to take care of Missourians and not be dependent on other states and other countries to meet our needs,” says Parson.

Missourians who are overdue on child support and qualify for a stimulus payment might not end up reaping the benefits. Under the plan, Americans who make $75,000 or less a year would get a check for $1,200 – $2,400 for married couples – plus $500 per kid.

“It’s pretty simple for me – if you owe for your children, you need to pay for your kids. They should be a priority of yourselves,” says the governor. “If there’s an opportunity to take that money and make sure we get it to those kids where they need it, by all means we’ll be taking it.”

Ahead of Easter Sunday, today’s briefing also included a chunk of time devoted to observing the religious holiday.

The full video of today’s briefing is below.

Six Missouri House seats to be filled in special elections on Tuesday

November 4, 2019 By Brian Hauswirth

Voters across the state in six legislative districts will head to the polls on Tuesday to cast ballots in races for the Missouri House.

The Missouri Capitol in Jefferson City (file photo)

Republicans currently control the House 113-43, with seven vacancies.

Governor Mike Parson called Tuesday’s special election to fill six seats, due to the resignations this year of State Reps. Scott Fitzpatrick, R-Shell Knob, Jean Evans, R-Manchester, Brandon Ellington, D-Kansas City, DaRon McGee, D-Kansas City, Cora Faith Walker, D-Ferguson and Bruce Franks Jr., D-St. Louis.

Of the six seats on Tuesday’s ballot, one is uncontested: Democrat Rasheen Aldridge will be the next State Representative to replace Representative Franks. The district is entirely in St. Louis City. Franks resigned this summer, after an emotional House floor speech in May about his struggle with anxiety and depression. Franks received a bipartisan standing ovation, after that speech.

Three of the other districts are Democratic strongholds, one is a GOP stronghold and another is getting attention from both parties.

Lawmakers in both parties have been canvassing in the 99th district in St. Louis County, a seat formerly held by Representative Evans. Republican Lee Ann Pitman of Ballwin is facing Democrat Trish Gunby of Manchester. This will be the most closely-watched race on Tuesday. Evans won re-election to the House last November but resigned in January to become the Missouri Republican Party’s executive director.

In southwest Missouri’s Barry County and small parts of Stone and Lawrence counties, voters will choose between Republican Scott Cupps of Shell Knob and Cassville Democrat Lisa Kalp, to replace now-Treasurer Scott Fitzpatrick. Fitzpatrick won re-election to a fourth House term last November. However, Governor Parson appointed Fitzpatrick as State Treasurer in December, and Fitzpatrick was sworn-in in January, after Eric Schmitt was appointed as Attorney General.

In Kansas City, voters Tuesday will decide between Democrat Yolanda Young, Republican Tammy Louise Herrera and Green Party nominee Jeff Francis in the race for Ellington’s former House seat. Ellington, the House Minority Whip, resigned from the House this summer, after being elected to the Kansas City Council. This district also includes parts of Jackson County.

In Kansas City’s 36th House district, voters will decide between Democrat Mark Sharp and Green Party candidate Roberta Voorhees for a seat formerly held by Representative McGee. He resigned in April, after allegations of sexual harassment against a former staffer.

In St. Louis County’s 74th District, voters will choose between Democrat Mike Person and Libertarian Nicholas (Nick) Kasoff for a seat formerly held by Representative Walker, who resigned this summer to become St. Louis County’s policy director.

The winners of the races are expected to be sworn-in in January, when the 2020 legislative session begins in Jefferson City.

The seventh House vacancy will be filled at a special election, at a later date. State Rep. Rebecca Roeber, R-Lee’s Summit, died in July. She suffered serious injuries in a March head-on collision on Highway 50 in west-central Missouri’s Syracuse.