Fed Government Cost Analysis
You are a new budget analyst working for the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) in Orange County. Your first task at DHHS is to analyze costs for the Division of Social Services (herein Division). The Division provides services to two types of patients – children and senior citizens. You have been asked to provide cost estimates for the Division using the following information.
• The Division employs social workers unique to each mission center.
• The children’s program runs one shift per day, 6 days per week, 312 days per year. It serves on average 50 patients a day and each social worker spends on average 60 minutes per patient.
• The senior citizen program runs one shift per day, 5 days per week, 260 days per year. It serves on average 45 patients a day. Because social workers in the senior citizen program are required to visit seniors at home, they are expected to spend two hours per patient visit (including travel time to and from client residences).
• Social workers in both programs are full-time employees for the county. They work 5 days per week, 8 hours per day and receive 15 days of paid vacation and 5 days of paid sick leave as part of the benefits package. While social-workers in both programs may be scheduled to work weekends and holidays, the agency does not allow for any overtime pay. Social workers in both programs receive an average pay of $25.00 per hour. The Department must also pay $250 per month per fulltime employee for health insurance and pay 25% of salary for taxes and other benefits.
• Each fulltime employee in the senior citizen program is assigned a mobile workstation (i.e., laptop computer, mobile phone with a data plan) at a cost of $150 per month. Each fulltime employee in the children’s program is assigned a computer (laptop or desktop) and a phone line. They are however not eligible for the mobile data plan. Their costs are $100 per month.
• Social workers in the senior citizen program are each assigned a vehicle. Vehicles are under a 3 year lease agreement. The agency is expected to pay $250 per vehicle per month. Maintenance for the vehicle is expected to average $0.50 per mile. On average, a senior citizen client visit will require 25 miles of driving.
• Each social worker visit requires the use of supplies. Supply costs, regardless of program, are expected to be $5 per client visit.
• Rent and utilities on the building that houses both programs are expected to be $200,000 for the year. Administrative costs for the division are expected to be $750,000. They include the salary of the division directors, two-supervising doctors, all related administrative staff and full-time employee benefits. The Orange County requires administrative costs to be allocated on the basis of number of direct services staff. Rent and utilities should be allocated on the basis of number of client visits.
• Assume that the division is paid a reimbursement rate of $70 per child program patient visit and $110 per senior citizen program patient visit.
QUESTIONS:
A). Using the information above, estimate the required operating personnel and calculate the personnel budget for each mission center.
B). Using the personnel budget you just calculated and the other information provided above, develop the unit cost table for the division. Be sure to classify each object of expenditures as to whether it is variable, fixed, step, or semi-variable.
Also, be sure to maintain a running total to reflect total direct costs, direct cost per unit, total costs, total costs per unit, total revenues and the total surplus/deficit for each mission center and the Division as a whole.
Be sure to show how you calculated the costs for each direct and indirect cost item and clearly label each calculation.
Fixed, Step,
Variable or Semi-Variable Children’s Program Senior Citizens Program Total
Visits
FT Staff
Direct Costs
Salary + Fringes
Workstation
Vehicle
Supplies
Total Direct Costs
Direct Costs Per Visit
Indirect Costs
Rent & Utilities
Administrative
Total Costs
Total Costs Per Visit
Total Revenues
Total Deficit/Surplus
C) The Office of Management and Budget for the county has asked agencies to consider integrating technology to improve efficiency and increase productivity. The vendor leasing vehicles is proposing to install GPS (or Global Positioning Systems) in each vehicle at a cost of $25 per vehicle per month. A second vendor will provide the senior citizen program with a client scheduling software. While the software has an annual $10,000 licensing fee, the agency expects social workers will cut visit and travel time from two hours to 90 minutes.
Assuming that the agency maintains current staff levels and that demand for senior citizen services far exceeds workload, estimate changes in workload (i.e. patient visits per year) as a result of changes in productivity.
D) Estimate changes in costs, cost per unit, and the change in the surplus/deficit in the Senior Citizen program if the changes discussed in part C) are made. You may assume indirect costs would not be reallocated.
