Moving Toward Performance-Based, Managed Care Contracting in Child Welfare: Perspectives on Staffing, Financial Management, and Information Technology

Abstract

Social service managers in performance-based and managed care contracting environments may be required to alter their agencies' personnel, financial management, and information technology practices to deal with the heightened financial risk present in these environments. This study describes the barriers that nonprofit child welfare managers faced, as well as the changes their agencies made, in these three areas of organizational functioning while adapting to a performance-based, managed care contracting environment. It reports on the results of analyses of in-depth interviews with administrators and foster care supervisors from nine nonprofit agencies either operating under or in the process of transitioning to a performance-based, managed care contract with the state of Michigan's public child welfare agency.

Managerial Strategies to Influence Frontline Worker Understanding of Performance Measures in Nonprofit Child Welfare Agencies

“…These results also provide some indication that strategies used by managers to engage frontline workers in performance measurement and management may have the purpose of promoting an outcomes-focused organizational culture, in response to contractual requirements and/ or to seek improved outcomes. These managerial efforts may be particularly important when nonprofit child welfare agencies are required by federal regulations to document outcomes and discern practices associated with their achievement (Meezan & McBeath, 2011), and may contribute to building the research case for evidence-based practices in a field which has been noted as lagging in this area (Barth et al, 2012). Nonprofit human service managers are faced with daily decisions in regard to where resources and managerial efforts are invested.…”

“…In response to these institutional demands, these contracted nonprofit child welfare agencies have invested in performance measurement to track the effectiveness and efficiency of their internal operations, in an effort to compete for public contracts and private donations (S. R. Smith, 2010). Although performance measurement has become an area of managerial emphasis (Weigensberg, 2009;Meezan & McBeath, 2011), nonprofit child welfare agencies may differ in their capacity to invest in performance measurement systems.…”

“…In response to these institutional demands and to compete for public contracts and private donations, nonprofit child welfare agencies have invested in performance measurement to demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of their internal operations (S. R. Smith, 2010). For these reasons, performance measurement has become an area of managerial emphasis for nonprofit child welfare agencies (Weigensberg, 2009;Meezan & McBeath, 2011). However, organizational investments in performance measurement are unlikely to yield benefits without the engagement of frontline workers because they are responsible for entering information on program indicators to demonstrate organizational accountability (Lipsky, 2010).…”

An ethnography of mechanisms employed by the government to hold NGOs in Ethiopia accountable: the case of child focused social protection providers

“…In this connection, the literature. [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18] Has extensively examined the effectiveness of performance-based contractual mechanisms and quality assurance systems that have gained popularity as effective accountability mechanisms. On the other hand, there is virtually no empirical study on accountability mechanisms governments of developing countries have employed as they tighten regulation of a multitude of NGOs they do not finance.…”