Psych-service fees concern state

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May 23, 2008

Evaluation funding to be reduced

By Jennifer Learn-Andes jandes@timesleader.com
Luzerne County Reporter

A state Welfare Department official warned Luzerne County officials last fall that the county was spending too much money on overly lengthy juvenile offender psychological evaluations, county Human Services Director Joe DeVizia verified Friday.

“He said that we don’t need that long of a report. That was his opinion,” DeVizia said. “He said we can’t afford to pay huge prices for psychologicals.”

Richard J. Gold, deputy secretary for the department’s Office of Children, Youth and Families, also told the county that the state will be reducing the percentage of funding for the evaluations, DeVizia said.

The state currently funds 80 percent of the evaluations, county officials say.

Frank Vita, the brother-in-law of Court of Common Pleas senior Judge Mike Conahan, was paid $1.1 million to prepare the psychological evaluations since 2001, county records show.

Court of Common Pleas President Judge Mark Ciavarella has said the thoroughness and length of Vita’s reports make him an asset.

Ciavarella deferred comment on funding questions to court human resources director Paul McGarry, who previously oversaw probation services.

McGarry said he never received any complaints or concerns from state welfare officials about spending on the psychological evaluations, other than a request a few years ago for more detail on Vita’s bills.

He said the state approves the budget for evaluations and the actual bills.

McGarry said he’s frustrated that critics are saying Vita doesn’t have to administer multiple tests on each offender. An undetected psychological problem could lead to juveniles being sent to the wrong treatment facility, he said, adding that it’s “not unusual” for a lengthy treatment to cost $90,000 to $150,000 per juvenile.

The county has been paying for Vita’s evaluations with Act 148 funding, which is a key income stream for the county’s Children and Youth division, DeVizia said. Act 148 funding has been “shrinking” in recent years, even though the county has to stretch it to cover child welfare services, including some children and youth caseworker salaries, he said.

County Children and Youth Director Frank Castano will have to find a way to make sure the expense falls below the state’s reduced reimbursement, whatever that is, DeVizia said.

He does not believe county officials would want the alternatives: using county tax dollars to shore up the difference or tapping other already-strapped funding streams.

“Whatever the state can pay is all Frank (Castano) is going to be able to pay,” DeVizia said.

DeVizia said the state continues to fund Vita’s psychological evaluations, but the clock is ticking for the county to come up with another lower-priced arrangement.

County officials plan to publicly advertise the work before July 1 – something that wasn’t done in the past – to determine if other psychologists are interested and, if so, what they would charge.

The county is also trying to get the psychological evaluations covered by medical assistance for juvenile offenders who are low income or meet other medical assistance eligibility requirements, he said.

Luzerne and three other counties have pooled their medical assistance allotments in a regionally managed pot, hoping to get a bigger bang for the buck when funding mental health and drug/alcohol services. This network is known as HealthChoices.

Providers have to be approved by HealthChoices to receive medical assistance funding. McGarry said he believes Vita has been accepted as a network provider.

To participate, Vita may have to accept reduced rates, DeVizia said. Also, HealthChoices may set limits on how much may be spent on each evaluation.

Vita charges $90 per hour and usually bills between 14 and 19 hours for work associated with each juvenile, his bills show.

The county probation office, which determines which clients are evaluated by Vita, reports that Vita saw 120 juvenile offenders in 2007, receiving $180,360 in payments for the year. He evaluated 40 offenders this year to date and has been paid $74,160.

Jennifer Learn-Andes, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 831-7333.

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18 Reader Comments

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LEN CASTERLINE said...

I AM CURIOUS ABOUT PSYCHOLOGIST VITA'S BACKGROUND AND TRAINING.WHERE DID HE GET HIS DEGREE OR DEGREES AND WHAT TRAINING DID HE HAVE? HAS HE BEEN RECOGNIZED PROFESIONALLY?? THAT COULD BE AN INTERESTING STORY.

May 3, 2008 at 5:56 AM

Hilary Palencar said...

Is Mr. Vita the only qualified psychologist in Luzerne County who can perform these evaluations? Wouldn't it even be more legal, for lack of a better word, for other psychologists to participate in this windfall? To become a millionaire in this way is pretty tawdry.

May 3, 2008 at 7:11 AM

tax payer x20 said...

The evaluations were nonsense and just another corrupt money making scam. Luzerne County only has ONE treatment option. "Camp Adams" 95% of all juvenile offenders are found guilty before they even reach the courtroom. I have seen this first hand and the courtroom proceeding is only a dog and pony show. Where is the justice in this county for our young people?

May 3, 2008 at 8:11 AM

Watcher said...

Ciavarella thought the length of Vita’s reports make him an asset? Give me a break!!!! More like make him a bundle....off the State. Maybe now that the "Good ole boys" are stealing from the State, There will finally be a THOROUGH investigation by the FEDS, and these bums will be jailed or at least thrown out.

May 3, 2008 at 8:29 AM

Scott said...

It's obvious these leeches have been on the gravy train for quite awhile. I propose there is no possible way that this man spent 40 hrs a week, 50 weeks a year doing only the patients from the juvenile court system. Doesn't he have any other patients? Hey Musto-Carroll are we going to get another outside investigation that will be swept under the rug? What about the debit cards? Prison Fencing? No-Bid contracts for the "Good Ole Boys" friends? What about investigating the entire Court House? Oh, I'm sorry that might be what we elected you to do.....We want answers and the truth. Not some slap on the wrist with a week off and probabtion. We want people fired, arrested, tried and convicted and removed from office.

May 3, 2008 at 8:42 AM

millie b said...

Can someone please tell me how the county circumvented and manipulated the state's recommendation?? Why was Joe DiVizia not watching what was going on?? Is he also in someones hip pocket. The list of cronies continue to grow and no one is held accountable. All of those in the courthouse should be held to a higher standard. However if you are in high places, you don't have to worry. Voters should and need to take back their county. Where is the outrage. Skrep, Guesto, the judges, Divizia and the others should all go. The barrel of apples are rotted.

May 3, 2008 at 8:49 AM

Uno Who said...

90 bucks an hour to tell us that a bunch of teen hoodlums are, well, hoodlums. Doesn't somebody have a cousin or in-law who can do this for, say, 30 bucks an hour?

May 3, 2008 at 9:17 AM

Bob R said...

You're right, Millie b; voters do need to take back the county, but remember the 10,000 "machine voters"?? They all probably "work" for the county. They're not going to "bite the hand that feeds". That's the real Luzerne County Story!!!!

May 3, 2008 at 10:48 AM

Carl said...

It would be very interesting to see Vita's qualifications for a psychologist. He is giving 20 page reports that has a lot of "crap" that is meaningless that the judge doesn't understand and then put into a file that nobody else can look at. How valuable an asset can that be? According to Judge Ciavarella, it's very valuable. But when it comes to the judge's verdict he does not go into the reasoning behind his decision in his sparce 3 pages....and this is the IMPORTANT part in knowing anything about the defendant and what happens to this defendant and how he/she will be helped. How sincere can Judge Ciavarella be? Not very sincere and helpful!!!!!

May 3, 2008 at 10:50 AM

Joe C said...

Why should we be surprise? BAsed on the billable hours to the county and the private work not billable to the county, it does appears as if there are enough hours in the year. It looks like double billing for the same hours: Bill the county, bill the client. This is good business if you could get it

May 3, 2008 at 12:35 PM

DrJ said...

Is Mr. Vita a doctoral-level psychologist? In most of the work I do with clinical psychologists (neuropsychologists), despite day long testing, scoring and report writing, fees retrieved from such services are typically less than the actual hours worked. I agree that such services for juveniles could be paid much less, particularly since the money comes from the government and not a private pay source. The fees seem to be excessive to me.

May 3, 2008 at 4:06 PM

Jason said...

This is an example of muckraking at its finest. The implication all along was that the county paid these bills, and the TL let the pot stir for three days before informing its readership that (1) the state has paid 80% of the bill and (2) the state has been aware of and presumably reviewed these bills. Come on people, you are being manipulated!!!

May 3, 2008 at 5:45 PM

J.Wallace said...

It seems Luzerne County disproves the old saying about one bad apple spoiling the barrel. In my humble opinon it would be difficult to find a good apple in the Luzerne County barrel, it seems they all have worms eating at them.

May 4, 2008 at 6:52 AM

Jon B said...

Jason....what's your point? The problem is neptoism and cronyism in the county. Excessive billings are also the problem. 20% of an excessive bill is also too much to spend on a worthless document. Don't you pay state taxes? It doesn't matter from where the payments came from, it's still obscene!!!!! It's nepotism!!!!!

May 4, 2008 at 10:34 AM

Watcher said...

jMr Vita is just another member of the domes "Good ole boys" club. Fleese the tax payers, fleece the State, and now fleece the government. How in the hell are these thieves getting away with it?

May 4, 2008 at 8:16 PM

tom sedeski said...

he is overbilling 200%. I imagine a 1-2 hour interivew and 3 hours to write a report sounds reasonable. thats 5 hours. THEIF! I see a dramtic decrease in your AGI in 08.

May 4, 2008 at 9:55 PM

tom sedeski said...

who is responsbile for reviewing invoices and dont they question obvious over charging?

May 4, 2008 at 9:58 PM

:iz said...

This entire county is corrupt! Why is it that our children in this county are nothing but dollar signs? Children and youth, Sorrento Gardens, all the way up to the court house. You all should be ashamed of yourselves!

July 4, 2008 at 1:13 AM

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