The Complaint Resolution Unit within the Aging and Long-term Support Administration receives a State Auditor's Office Stewardship Award

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State Auditor Pat McCarthy attended a reception at the Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) Aging and Long-term Support Administration's (ALTSA) Complaint Resolution Unit (CRU) on Friday, July 6 to award them a State Auditor's Office Stewardship award. Our Office is pleased to recognize the Department for its dedication to making government work better. The Department's Complaint Resolution Unit (CRU) and field operations within the Aging and Long-Term Support Administration made significant improvements to resolve a long-standing audit finding and improve services to its clients.

State law requires that the Department initiate a response to a complaint no later than 24 hours after knowledge of the complaint. In fiscal year 2017, the CRU received more than 30,000 complaints, of which only 11 (0.04 percent) exceeded the 24-hour timeline. This is a drastic improvement from the fiscal year 2016 audit, when the Department responded 2,424 (9 percent) times after the 24-hour deadline.

In state fiscal year 2017, we found that the field investigators were assigned 6,887 complaints for follow-up, and only 154 complaints weren't finished within the assigned timeline, an improvement from fiscal year 2016 when 1,619 did not meet the assigned timelines.

It is clear that Department management and staff want to be accountable to the residents of Washington and good stewards of public funds. Department personnel have fostered a positive and professional working relationship with the Office of the Washington State Auditor, and we are pleased our audits have helped prompt such remarkable improvement.

Thank you for your hard work and dedication to Washingtonians.