While advocates who specialize in public benefits have called for these backlogs to be cut, they say New Yorkers who rely on cash and food support are not yet out of the woods. 

Adi Talwar

A supermarket in Inwood.

Mayor Eric Adams’ administration on Monday announced significant progress toward eliminating its backlogs of cash and food assistance cases, ahead of a court-ordered deadline of March 31. 

Yet while advocates who specialize in public benefits have called for these backlogs to be cut, they say New Yorkers who rely on this support are not out of the woods, and continue to have a hard time with their applications, despite an overall increase in recipients.

For example, attorneys in court with the administration say they plan to explore possible connections between the decreased cash assistance backlog and a surge last year in such applications being denied for procedural reasons—mostly for failure to complete a mandatory phone interview, which users say can be difficult due to lengthy wait times.

“We can certainly be pleased with them meeting their deadlines and also simultaneously concerned that more people are being denied and that they’re not maintaining a phone system that’s accessible,” said Abby Biberman, associate director of the Public Benefits Unit at New York Legal Assistance Group (NYLAG). 

As of Feb. 29, the Department of Social Services (DSS) had just 1,154 overdue applications and recertification requests from New Yorkers seeking cash assistance to cover rent and other needs—a share of whom are also seeking food aid—down from a peak of 46,000 in July. 

Among those only seeking Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), or food stamps, the backlog was 411 cases by the end of February, down from 4,000 last summer. SNAP-only cases are processed on a separate track from their cash assistance counterparts and have been less delay-plagued overall. 

Under federal and state law, all SNAP and cash assistance applications and recertifications must be processed by the Human Resources Administration (HRA), part of DSS, within 30 days. Anything pending beyond that threshold is considered delayed.

Delayed processing can have serious consequences for applicants—from hunger to missed rent payments that can put families at risk of eviction. 

On Monday, DSS attributed the reduced backlog to streamlined recertification processes, increased staffing—including close to 1,000 new workers in the past year— and changes to the mandatory interview process for cash assistance recipients. 

While SNAP-only applicants have had an on-demand phone line for interviews since 2015, cash applicants had to conduct interviews in-person until the pandemic hit. Initially, these applicants had to wait for the city to call. But in April 2023, HRA began phasing in on-demand interviews for them.  

“As a result of technological enhancements, investments in staffing, and strategic process changes, DSS is on track to eliminate backlogs impacting processing delays for cash assistance and SNAP benefits, and the agency is better positioned to handle unprecedented caseloads in the future,” DSS Commissioner Molly Wasow Park said in a statement. 

The pandemic prompted a surge in demand for cash assistance, according to DSS, and the number of people receiving cash aid is now 510,000, up 25 percent from the beginning of the Adams administration. About 1.73 million New Yorkers receive SNAP, including many cash recipients. 

Monday’s backlog data is distinct from DSS’ timeliness rate, most recently reported for the months of July through October of 2023. During that period, just 14.3 percent of cash assistance applications were processed on time, alongside 41.6 percent of SNAP cases (including SNAP-only and those associated with a cash assistance case). 

“While it’s positive the administration reduced HRA’s extensive backlog of SNAP and cash assistance applications as part of a court ordered process, it is the failure to meet the requirement that these benefits are processed on-time that must also be addressed,” said Deputy Council Speaker Diana Ayala in a statement Monday. 

DSS stressed that the most recent timeliness data encompassed the summer months when the agency was still experiencing peak backlogs. 

Meanwhile, benefits applicants and advocates continue to report issues with HRA’s phone lines—both the InfoLine, which people can call for general information, and the interview lines. 

“Across the board we’ve been continuing to see people having significant issues with the process in general, in terms of being able to complete interviews, [and] being able to get their recertifications processed,” said Helen Strom, benefits and homeless advocacy director at the Safety Net Project at the Urban Justice Center. 

In January, City Limits reported that cash assistance rejections for failure to complete an interview made up 45 percent of all denials in the third quarter of 2023, exceeding 43,000. 

For comparison, in three quarters-worth of data available before the pandemic, interview-related denials absent a scheduled appointment made up no more than 5 percent of the total. 

In a June court filing, Jill Berry, first deputy commissioner at DSS, described plans for a computer program to more expediently reject a “cohort” of cases in which applicants fail to complete their interviews within 30 days, despite receiving reminder notices—what she called a “significant contributor” to the case backlog.

“We don’t know exactly the relationship between [the denial surge] and the data released this morning, but it is something we want to be cautious about and continue to investigate,” said Emily Lundgren, a staff attorney at the Legal Aid Society, on Monday. 

Along with Biberman of NYLAG, Lundgren is representing benefits recipients in the federal lawsuit Forest v. City of New York. A preliminary injunction in that case set DSS’ backlog-clearing deadlines. 

Eliminating the backlog was just one, preliminary objective of the lawsuit, according to Lundgren and Biberman. Their team is still collecting discovery from the city, and plans to explore possible issues with the interview process, as well as how DSS accepts and tracks documents that applicants must submit along with their applications. 

According to DSS, the shift to online application processes during the pandemic made it easier for New Yorkers to start the application process, resulting in more applications overall and more incomplete applications that are ultimately denied.

But advocates stressed that, in their experience, applicants seldom drop an application once they begin the process, as the benefits they are seeking are needed to feed their children, and buy necessities like toothpaste and school supplies. 

“I don’t think it’s a process you’re just going to begin and engage with without the determination to follow through,” Lundgren said.

To reach the reporter behind this story, contact Emma@citylimits.org. To reach the editor, contact Jeanmarie@citylimits.org

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Everyone is giddy for the new White Sox ballpark in the South Loop, even without the team or the city announcing any details about their plans.

Kudos to the Sox for getting fans excited for opening day, even if it’s Opening Day 2030, and to Mayor Brandon Johnson, who figures to be long gone before the first shovel hits the ground on the ballpark construction.

If we’re rushing toward an agreement to make Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf’s new pet project come to fruition, we might as well start thinking about the naming rights.

Guaranteed Rate Field, the name of the current ballpark, never has caught on since replacing U.S. Cellular Field, which was widely known as “the Cell.” U.S. Cellular Field replaced “new Comiskey Park,” the original name in 1991 which honored the demolished ballpark across the street. Former owner Charles Comiskey named the ballpark after himself, an idea that Reinsdorf assuredly won’t copy.

No matter what name it went by, many fans still referred to the Sox’s home as “Sox Park,” an easily remembered name that spans generations.

While we anxiously await Reinsdorf and Johnson’s plan, here are 10 suggestions for the name of the new South Loop ballpark:

1. Manny’s Cafeteria & Delicatessen Stadium

The South Loop’s most beloved restaurant deserves dibs for the new stadium name.

The classic Jewish deli is only a three-minute drive down Roosevelt Road from the proposed stadium site, and figures to be as popular for pregame dining as McCuddy’s once was for pregame drinking.

2. Rat Hole Park

The Rat Hole Preservation Society, our nickname for those anonymous do-gooders in Roscoe Village who helped save the city’s latest tourist attraction from vandalism, needs to set up a GoFundMe page for the naming rights.

The Rat Hole is a rodent-shaped crater in a sidewalk that somehow became as famous as the Bean. The Sox could even get creative and design a park with the same imprint. Rat Hole Park would be a perfect destination for a ballgame in Chicago and would honor both our favorite rodents and our history of corrupt politicians.

The only problem might be that some Sox fans already refer to Wrigley Field as “the rat hole.”

3. The 78

The area around Clark Street and Roosevelt Road is already called “the 78″ based on someone’s idea that it eventually would become the 78th neighborhood in Chicago.

“The 78″ could also be seen as an homage to the 1978 White Sox, a team that had the misfortune of following the popular ‘77 group known as the “South Side Hit Men.” Without “rent-a-players” Richie Zisk and Oscar Gamble, the stars of the Hit Men, the Sox plunged to a 90-loss season. They did however manage to acquire Claudell Washington in a trade for Bobby Bonds, and the outfielder’s inability to play hard inspired the famous banner in right field: “Washington Slept Here.”

4. Obama Yards

The world’s most famous Sox fan is former President Barack Obama, though he once called Comiskey Park “Comiskey Field” in an interview with Bob Costas.

Obama’s presidential library currently is under construction in Jackson Park and could use a bookend a few miles north. One Sox fan publicly pleaded with Reinsdorf in a Chicago Tribune op-ed to sell the team to Obama, but first things first. Naming the stadium after Obama might even convince him to attend some games.

5. Loop Park

Getting people to go back to the Loop again might be easier if it meant going to a ballpark by the same name, and the former classic rock radio station called “the Loop” would be an appropriate tie-in for nostalgic Sox fans.

A statue of Steve Dahl blowing up disco albums would look nice in center, commemorating one of the most celebrated moments in Sox history.

6. Second City Stadium

The Second City improv theater includes some of the most recognized names in comedy over the years, from John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd to Tina Fey and Stephen Colbert.

In the mid ‘90s I asked Second City alum George Wendt, a South Side Sox fan who played Norm on “Cheers,” to give his theory on the team’s attendance issues in the new Comiskey Park.

“Maybe you could’ve put it on the free TV versus cable TV thing a few years back,” Wendt replied. “But now they’re on WGN sometimes, so I don’t know. It seems like emigres to Chicago, the postgraduates who settle here in the suburbs, north or south, become Cubs fans. It seems like to be a Sox fan, you have to be born and raised on the South Side.”

That might still be true today.

7. This Space for Rent Field

A temporary solution while the Sox try to find a sponsor from the cryptocurrency world.

8. Ozzie Guillen Field

The manager of the only Sox team to win a championship since 1917 doesn’t have a statue in Guaranteed Rate Field. To make amends, the Sox could name the new ballpark after Guillen, who currently works as an analyst for NBC Sports Chicago and provides unfiltered commentary on the team’s issues.

“Meet you at ‘the Oz’” sounds like a good way to start a day.

9. Taylor Swift Stadium

Being associated with the world’s biggest pop star seemed to work well for the NFL. The Sox could use the boost in attendance, even if Reinsdorf has to pay Swift for the use of her name.

10. Sox Park

Well, this is what it will eventually be called no matter what it’s named, so why not just cut to the chase?

()

Katheryn Houghton | KFF Health News (TNS)

States are redefining when medical professionals can get mental health treatment without risking notifying the boards that regulate their licenses.

Too often, health care workers wait to seek counseling or addiction treatment, causing their work and patient care to suffer, said Jean Branscum, CEO of the Montana Medical Association, an industry group representing doctors.

“They’ve invested so much time in their career,” Branscum said. “To have anything jeopardize that is a big worry on their mind.”

Montana, like other states, has a recovery program for health professionals who have a substance use disorder or mental illness. However, medical associations say such programs often come with invasive monitoring, even for voluntary care. And gray areas about when a mental illness should become public breeds fear that seeking care jeopardizes a medical career.

Montana is among the states looking to boost confidential care for health professionals as long as they’re not deemed a danger to themselves or patients. In recent years, at least a dozen states have considered or created confidential wellness programs to offer clinicians help early on for career burnout or mental health issues. States have also reworked medical licensing questions to avoid scrutiny for providers who need mental health treatment. The changes are modeled after Virginia legislation from 2020.

During a legislative committee meeting last month, advocates for Montana medical professionals asked state lawmakers to follow Virginia’s lead. They say the goal is twofold: to get clinicians treatment before patients are at risk and to curtail the workforce burnout that’s partly fueled by untreated stress.

Montana’s existing medical monitoring program, the Montana Recovery Program, is run by the global company Maximus. Montana’s professional advocates had backed another nonprofit to run Montana’s program, which didn’t win the state contract.

The Montana Recovery Program declined a request for an interview, instead referring KFF Health News to the Montana Department of Labor & Industry, which oversees the state’s medical licensing boards. Department staffers didn’t comment by deadline.

In a Medscape survey released this year, 20% of physicians said they felt depressed, with job burnout as a leading factor. The majority said confiding in other doctors wasn’t practical. Some said they might not tell anyone about their depression out of fear people would doubt their abilities, or that their employer or medical board could find out.

Health professionals are leaving their jobs. They’re retiring early, reducing work hours, or switching careers. That further dwindles patients’ care options when there already aren’t enough providers to go around. The federal government estimates 74 million people live in an area without enough primary care services due to a workforce shortage.

Aiming to ensure patient safety, state medical boards can suspend or revoke clinicians’ rights to practice medicine if substance use or psychological disorders impair their work. Those cases are rare. One study found roughly 4,400 actions against the licenses of U.S. physicians for either substance use or psychological impairment from 2004 to 2020.

Nonetheless, workforce advocates say disclosure requirements cause some health professionals to dodge questions about mental health histories on licensing and insurance forms or forgo care altogether. They’re worried divulging any weakness will signal they shouldn’t practice medicine.

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The mental health questions health workers are asked vary by state and profession. For example, nurses in Montana renewing their license are asked if they have any psychological condition or substance use that limited their ability to practice “with reasonable skill and safety” in the previous six months. Along with being asked about substance use on the job, doctors are required to say whether they’ve experienced a mental condition that “might adversely affect any aspect of your ability to perform.”

“When I see that question on my renewal, do I have to report that I was depressed because I was going through a really tough divorce?” Branscum cited as an example of workers’ uncertainty. “You know, my life is turned upside down now. Am I obligated to report that?”

A “yes” wouldn’t immediately result in licensing problems. Those who do report mental health troubles would be flagged by state workers as a potential concern. They could end up before the board’s same screening panel that recommends whether to revoke a license, or be referred to long-term monitoring with regular screening.

Additionally, health professionals are required to report when other clinicians show unprofessionalism or have potential issues that affect performance. Branscum said medical professionals worry that what they say in a counseling session could be flagged for licensing boards, or that a co-worker may make a report if they seem depressed at work.

Bob Sise, a Montana addiction psychiatrist and co-founder of the nonprofit 406 Recovery, told state lawmakers that job stressors are playing into workers’ mental health challenges, such as long shifts and heavy patient loads. And with the rising cost of health care, physicians feel they’re sacrificing their commitment to healing as they routinely substitute optimal treatment for lesser care that patients can afford.

Sise said his practice now has roughly 20 health professionals as patients.

“They were able to access care before it was too late,” Sise said. “But they’re the exception.”

In Virginia, doctors, nurses, physician assistants, pharmacists, and students can join the state’s SafeHaven program. Melina Davis, CEO of the Medical Society of Virginia, said the service offers counseling and peer coaching with staffers available to answer a call 24/7.

“If you only have a moment at 2 a.m., or that’s when you had the chance to first process the death of a patient, then you can talk to somebody,” Davis said.

Those in the program are assured that those conversations are privileged and can’t be used in lawsuits. This year, the state is considering adding medical diagnoses under the program’s confidential protections.

States that have followed suit have slight variations, but most create a “safe haven” with two types of wellness and reporting systems. Those who seek out care before they’re impaired at work have broad privacy protections. The other defines a disciplinary track and monitoring system for those who pose a risk to themselves or others. Indiana and South Dakota followed Virginia’s lead in 2021.

States are also narrowing the time frame that licensing boards can ask about mental illness history. The American Medical Association has encouraged states to require health care workers to disclose current physical or mental health conditions, not past diagnoses.

Last year, Georgia updated its license renewal form to ask doctors if any current condition “for which you are not being appropriately treated” affects their ability to practice medicine. That update replaces a request for seven years of mental health history.

Even outside the “safe haven” framework, some states are grappling with how to grant doctors privacy while guaranteeing patient safety.

The Medical Board of California is creating a program to treat and monitor doctors with alcohol and drug illnesses. But patients’ advocates have argued too much privacy, even for voluntary treatment, could risk consumers’ well-being. They told the state medical board that patients have a right to know if their doctor has an addiction.

Davis said states should debate how to balance physicians’ privacy and patients’ safety.

“We in medical professions are supposed to be saving lives,” she said. “Where’s the line where that starts to fall off, where their personal situation could affect that? And how does the system know?”

According to the Montana Recovery Program website, it’s not a program of discipline but instead one “of support, monitoring, and accountability.” Participants may self-refer to the program or be referred by their licensing board.

Branscum, with the Montana Medical Association, said the state’s monitoring program is needed for cases in which an illness impairs a clinician’s work. But she wants that form of treatment to become the exception.

Vicky Byrd, CEO of the Montana Nurses Association, said nurses don’t tend to join the program until they’re forced to in order to keep their license. That leaves many nurses struggling in silence until untreated illness shows up in their work, she said.

“Let’s get them taken care of before it has to go on their license,” Byrd said.

Because after that point, she said, it’s hard to recover.

(KFF Health News, formerly known as Kaiser Health News (KHN), is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs of KFF — the independent source for health policy research, polling and journalism.)

©2024 KFF Health News. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.