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Isanti County HHS reports stable performance in child and adult services and an $8 return-per-dollar in fraud prevention
Summary
Health & Human Services staff reviewed 2025 performance measures showing Isanti County above regional averages in several child- and adult-services metrics and reported the county's fraud-prevention work produced a reported return on investment of about $8.06 per $1 spent; staff will share the annual fraud-prevention plan with the board on request.
Isanti County Health & Human Services presented a summary of 2025 performance measures and fraud-prevention results at the board's meeting. Jody, who led the presentation, said some statewide human-services indicators are currently suspended while the Human Services Performance Management Council revises measures; the county nevertheless continues to receive and monitor the data.
Jody highlighted child-welfare outcomes including a 2024 rate of 87.5% of children who did not have a repeat substantiated maltreatment report within 12 months and a 2024 permanency rate (children discharged from out-of-home placement to permanency within 12 months) of 60.9% in Isanti County, above the regional average. On adult protection timeliness, the county reported near-universal compliance with the statutory screening standard: 100% in 2024 and 98.65% in the 2025 calendar-year conversion compared with a statewide 98.31% figure.
On child support, staff reported 94.41% of open child-support cases had an order established in 2025, exceeding the 80% threshold. Jody explained why the paternity-establishment percentage can exceed 100%: the numerator and denominator use different cohorts across federal reporting periods.
The presentation also covered SNAP and cash assistance timeliness; Isanti County logged about 93.9% of SNAP/cash applications processed timely in 2024 (state threshold 75%). Staff emphasized that systemic factors and aging systems can distort year-to-year comparisons and repeated calls for state-level system modernization.
On fraud prevention, Jody said Minnesota statute authorizes counties and DHS to investigate suspected fraud by individual recipients and that the commissioner of human services monitors county performance. Carrie Kolb, introduced earlier as the county's family-programs and fraud-prevention supervisor, explained that county investigations are internal while suspected provider fraud is referred to the state.
The county reported an internal return-on-investment figure of about $8.06 for every $1 spent on fraud prevention, which staff said exceeds state averages. In the partial 2025 dataset presented, 298 referrals were received and 286 investigations completed; staff reported 33 application denials and cited more than $128,000 in savings/overpayments identified, while noting appeals processes and penalties remain available under DHS procedures.
Commissioners asked how the county verifies contractor spending and whether the annual fraud-prevention plan could be shared with the full board. Jody and Carrie said the plan is prepared biennially and can be provided for the board's review; it does not require board approval but can be shared on request.
The presentation closed with commissioners and staff urging continued attention to state system modernization and to communicate key performance findings to constituents. The county agreed to provide the most recent fraud-prevention plan to the board for review.
