The Arizona Department of Health Services and the Arizona Department of Economic Security announced a plan to bring key stakeholders from around the state together to develop an action plan that will make improvements to the state’s Adult Protective Services system.

APS is the DES program responsible for investigating allegations of abuse, exploitation, and neglect of vulnerable adults.

“Protecting vulnerable adults is one of the core functions of DES and the State, and the primary goal of this action plan is to develop steps we can take that will improve the way APS functions, and more importantly, protect the people who need us the most,” said Dr. Cara Christ, ADHS director and interim DES director. “The stakeholder group that we are bringing together will identify any gaps that currently exist in APS and develop solutions. This process will be very similar to how ADHS brought together key stakeholders to develop the Opioid Action Plan.”

The stakeholder meeting is Jan. 23 in Phoenix and will provide a forum for stakeholders to make recommendations for the action plan. The action plan will be finalized by mid-February.

Invited experts include representatives from state agencies, law enforcement, healthcare providers and facilities, local service providers, advocates, first responders, policymakers, and others.

“We have sent out save the date invitations to more than 250 key stakeholders around the state, and we are expecting each of them to bring ideas and solutions for how we can improve APS,” Dr. Christ said. “We are being very aggressive with our timelines to quickly translate the recommendations from the stakeholder meeting into an action plan to ensure we can make rapid improvements to APS in order to protect vulnerable adults in Arizona.”

While the agenda for the stakeholder meeting has not yet been finalized, the meeting will focus on three primary goals:

Protecting vulnerable adults by providing better linkage to services, which includes reducing the waitlist, improving network sufficiency of services, and ensuring case follow up, handoff, and closure with partners;

Improving state agency processes to ensure a more efficient, streamlined approach to protecting Arizona’s vulnerable adults. This may include streamlining the investigative process, improving partnerships with law enforcement, and reviewing Arizona’s laws and rules; and

Reducing the APS backlog and developing a sustainable process to ensure another backlog is not created.

More information about the upcoming stakeholder meeting will be posted online.

IF YOU GO

WHAT: Arizona Adult Protective Services Stakeholder Meeting

WHEN: 8:15 a.m.-4 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 23

WHERE: Desert Willow Conference Center, 4340 E. Cotton Center Blvd., Phoenix