Why Should Delaware Care?
Delaware’s Prescription Opioid Settlement Distribution Commission is tasked with recommending how $250 million in settlements from drug makers and distributors should be allocated across the state. But a Spotlight Delaware investigation raised questions about how the commission is run, and a new analysis will provide guidance for future changes.
Following months of back-and-forth and questions around the future of Delaware’s $250 million opioid settlement fund, a new path was put before members of the Prescription Opioid Settlement Distribution Commission (POSDC) on Monday.
It comes on the heels of a Spotlight Delaware investigation revealing how money was allocated, the amount of time given to commission members to review applications and how Delaware is different from the rest of the country.
Monday’s meeting saw Social Contract, an independent consulting firm in Wilmington, give recommendations to improve processes within the POSDC. While it condensed its 171-page report to seven slides, the full report is available here.
In the end, members of the commission voted to implement those strategies over the next few months and coming year.
Social Contract outlines steps
At the request of Attorney General Kathy Jennings, Social Contract spent months putting together recommendations for the POSDC to maximize the use of funding. In its final report, it had nine steps for the commission to follow.
Among them were creating a public dashboard of funding, redesigning the application and doing a needs assessment every two to years to better understand where funds would be most effective.
The report set a timeline for recommendations to be implemented over three phases in the next year. The commission voted to move ahead with the first phase, which would update eligibility criteria, redesign the application and implement an “outcomes-based” monitoring system.
As part of the 171-page report, Social Contract held interviews with different stakeholders like commission members and included anonymous quotes. In one of those interviews, a participant said the review process should be more transparent.
Other quotes discussed the involvement of commission members in the review process and the amount of time they’ve had in the past to review applications.
“The commission members get 40 however many [applications] … two or three days before we meet and have to vote in two or three days,” a stakeholder said.
Spotlight Delaware previously reported commission members have had limited time to review hundreds of pages of applications prior to votes.
During the meeting, Tina Alexander, a senior director for Social Contract, gave a presentation on some of the findings. She hit on what the first phase of recommendations would look like, including redesigning the application, as well as fine tuning the eligibility criteria.
Another point was a shift from the expected monthly grant reports, and a shift to a quarterly progress review.
“It’ll help you all see what’s working, catch issues early and support grantees in focusing on their long-term success,” Alexander said.
Meeting covered crimes, thanks
Prior to the Social Contract report, the commission went into executive session to discuss the “activities of [a] law-enforcement agency in its efforts to collect information leading to criminal apprehension pursuant.”
It is unclear whether this is related to allegations surrounding Code Purple Kent County, which was accused of securing its grant with “fraudulent documentation” in late-June. In September, its Dover location closed due to a major fire.
Spotlight Delaware previously reported that the organization was surprised to get the grant because of its limited experience in the substance abuse world, according to an interview with Ennio Emmanuel, a director at Code Purple Kent County.
Following the Social Contract report, there was a rush to get a vote in on the recommendations prior to the commission losing a quorum. There was also a public comment from Missy Palokas, chief policy advisor for the Office of the Child Advocate, where she thanked the commission for the organization’s $125,000 in grants.
“We could not have provided these critical activities without these funds,” Palokas said.
The meeting adjourned with a few items left on the agenda including approving annual reports going back to 2022. The commission reportedly intends to schedule a special meeting soon to consider those items.
