Chapter 12. Minnesota

Management Methods (Hennepin County Bonus Incentive Program)

Description/Goal

When the Minnesota legislature began offering counties bonuses to encourage critical child support activities in 1993, Hennepin County was one county that seized the opportunity. The state bonuses and the federal match they leveraged allowed the county to fund additional staff who dramatically improved the county's performance in review and adjustment of awards, paternity establishment, and medical support enforcement.

Minnesota's child support program is county-administered and counties historically have provided the bulk of the state match for the Minnesota IV-D program. With the counties and the federal government as the primary funders, the Minnesota legislature decided to target its new state funding for the program on improving child support outcomes in areas critical to the state. Financial incentives to the counties would reward specific, measurable actions that would have a long-term positive impact on both families and the state budget. The areas targeted were review and adjustment of child support awards (many preceded the adoption of Minnesota's child support guideline), paternity establishment, and enrollment of children in noncustodial parents' health plans (saving Medicaid dollars in many cases).

The bonus incentive program adopted in 1993 paid counties for the following outcomes:

$50 for every case reviewed to determine if the child support order needs to be modified
$100 for every case in which paternity is established
$50 for every child enrolled in the noncustodial parent's medical insurance plan

The program also required that all bonus dollars be reinvested by counties in their child support programs. (An additional bonus element - for establishment of a support award - has been added since 1995.)

The Hennepin County Collections Services Division (CSD) (the local IV-D agency in Minneapolis, MN) was able to sell its County Board on permitting the agency to hire additional staff assigned to these functions. With the promise that county dollars invested initially would yield measurable results once new staff were trained, as well as reimbursement through state bonus dollars and the federal financial assistance they garnered, the County Board agreed.

Results

After the bonus incentive program went into effect, Hennepin County's IV-D program achieved higher outcome levels in all three areas.

From 1991 until 1995 the number of paternities established each month was increased by 40 percent from 171 per month to 240 per month. (1995 bonus incentive: $229,500.)

Hennepin County was credited with 2,770 modification reviews in 1994, almost four times the 716 for which they received credit in 1993, the first year the data were tracked. Modifications increased from seven to 69 during this time. Both reviews and modifications declined in 1995 (to 1,200 and 32 respectively) because a majority of PA cases had already been reviewed. (1994 bonus incentive: $138,500; 1995 bonus incentive: $60,000.)
The number of children newly enrolled in noncustodial parents' medical insurance plans increased more than threefold between January - June, 1993 and July-December, 1995, increasing from 149 to 549 for the six month period. (1995 bonus incentive: $57,450.)

The increased outcome levels were primarily the result of additional staff to perform the work. Paternity staff was increased from 14 to 27. A new unit with 11 staff took over the review and adjustment function. Staff responsible for medical support enrollments was doubled from one to two.

Says Barry Bloomgren, Hennepin County CSD's Division Manager, “ What has been most meaningful for me has been the early start in focusing on establishing paternities and increasing orders through modification. This has meant increased collections for those former PA recipients who have now become self-sufficient. Other clients are now better prepared for self-sufficiency because more cases have orders and older orders now have higher amounts. We were much better prepared for welfare reform than we would have been without this program.”

Location

The Bonus Incentive Program operates statewide in Minnesota. However, this report focuses on its impact in urban Hennepin County - Minneapolis.

Funding

Bonus incentive payments are funded with state funds. They are used to obtain regular federal match for the program.

Replication Advice

Says Bloomgren, “This kind of a program is an opportunity to establish a partnership with your state regarding the importance of investment in the child support program, maximizing federal dollars, and achieving outcomes which are important for families. This is an effective program to use in justifying to the state that increased state funding for county-administered programs can pay off with increased client outcomes.”

“The Minnesota State incentive measures fit in with the new federal performance measures and follow the federal performance theme. Similar incentive programs could help other county-administered programs meet the federal targets,” he adds as an additional selling point.

Contact

Barry Bloomgren, Hennepin County Economic Assistance, Collections Services Division,

110 S. 3rd St., Minneapolis, MN 55401-2280, Ph: 612-348-3939, FX: 612-348-6643,

e-mail: barry.bloomgren@co.hennepin.mn.us.