Product details

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Published by: Harvard Kennedy School
Published in: 1998
Length: 18 pages

Abstract

This human services contracting case describes an innovative system launched by the Oklahoma Department of Rehabilitative Services when faced with what it viewed as skyrocketing costs and ineffectual assistance for citizens with severe disabilities. Under fiscal pressure, the Department decided on a drastic change in its historic approach to contracting-- which had reimbursed service providers for their billable hours. The new, "milestones" approach would reward vendors, instead, for specific results, on the road toward employment for the disabled. The case describes the virtues of the milestones system, as seen by the state; the fears of service providers and advocates that the new incentive system would cause a deterioration in the nature of assistance and therapy; and the early results of the program. Supported by a grant from Innovations in American Government Program; written for the Hauser Center for Nonprofit Institutions.

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Abstract

This human services contracting case describes an innovative system launched by the Oklahoma Department of Rehabilitative Services when faced with what it viewed as skyrocketing costs and ineffectual assistance for citizens with severe disabilities. Under fiscal pressure, the Department decided on a drastic change in its historic approach to contracting-- which had reimbursed service providers for their billable hours. The new, "milestones" approach would reward vendors, instead, for specific results, on the road toward employment for the disabled. The case describes the virtues of the milestones system, as seen by the state; the fears of service providers and advocates that the new incentive system would cause a deterioration in the nature of assistance and therapy; and the early results of the program. Supported by a grant from Innovations in American Government Program; written for the Hauser Center for Nonprofit Institutions.

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