pennsylvania’s guardianship tracking system (gts)...pennsylvania’s guardianship tracking system...

PENNSYLVANIA’S

GUARDIANSHIP

TRACKING SYSTEM (GTS)

National College of Probate

Judges

2019 Fall Conference

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• Judge Paula Francisco Ott – Chair, Advisory

Council on Elder Justice in the Courts

• Judge Lois E. Murphy - Administrative Judge of

the Orphans’ Court, Montgomery County Court of

Common Pleas

• Cherstin Hamel - Director, Office of Elder Justice

in the Courts, Administrative Office of PA Courts

• Amy Whitworth - Information Technology Analyst

Manager, Administrative Office of PA Courts

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LEARNING OBJECTIVES

After this session, participants will be able to:

• Describe the GTS’ capabilities

• Identify the GTS’ usefulness to courts

• Utilize Pennsylvania’s advice and lessons

learned

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PENNSYLVANIA’S POPULATION

AGE 65 AND OVER

• Ranks 5th in the 50 states – 2.2 million

persons

• Growing 20x that of the general population

– a 16.3% increase from 2010-2017Pennsylvania State Data Center, 2017 Detailed Population Estimates Research Brief

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PA Department of Aging

Substantiated Types of Abuse FY 2017-2018

38.5%

19.8%17.7%

16.3%

13.8%

6.5%

1.1%

What Types of Abuse are Occurring?

Self-Neglect: 38.5%

Caregiver Neglect: 19.8%

Financial Exploitation: 17.7%

Physical Abuse: 16.3%

Emotional Abuse: 13.8%

Type Not Specified: 6.5%

Sexual Abuse: 1.1%

ALZHEIMER’S FACTS AND FIGURES

• In 2019, an estimated 5.8 million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s

• One in 10 persons age 65 and older (10%) has Alzheimer’s dementia

• One in three seniors dies with Alzheimer’s or another dementia

Alzheimer’s Association

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GUARDIANSHIP TRACKING

SYSTEM (GTS)

• A statewide tool for courts to manage

guardianship cases and track guardian

compliance with annual reporting

• An e-filing solution for Pennsylvania

Guardians

• Tracks guardianships of adults age 18+7

WHAT LED TO THE CREATION

OF THE GTS?

• A lack of uniform, statewide monitoring and

tracking procedures for guardianship cases

• Incomplete knowledge about the number of

active guardianship cases in Pennsylvania

• A recommendation of the Elder Law Task Force

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THE ELDER LAW TASK FORCE

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CREATION OF THE GTS

• October 2014: Elder Law Task Force’s

Report and recommendations issued

• November 2016: Supreme Court of

Pennsylvania directs AOPC IT to create

the GTS

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ADVISORY COUNCIL ON ELDER

JUSTICE IN THE COURTS

• Background

• Oversight role regarding the GTS

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OFFICE OF ELDER JUSTICE

IN THE COURTS (OEJC)

• Background

• Role in implementation of the GTS

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ADVISORY COUNCIL’S AND OEJC’S

EFFORTS REGARDING THE GTS

• Training

• Education

• Resources

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OVERVIEW OF THE GTS

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GTS BUSINESS MODEL

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GTS FUNCTIONALITY

• Statewide repository of guardians

• Compliance tracking and electronic notifications

• Statewide alerts about guardians

• Automated flag logic

• Statistical reporting16

STATEWIDE REPOSITORY

OF GUARDIANS

• Finding guardians

• Training guardians

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• Court users are easily able

to generate a report of

overdue cases for the

orphans’ court bench.

• GTS accommodates

generation of paper overdue

notices in addition to

electronic notifications.

TRACKING GUARDIAN

COMPLIANCE

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ELECTRONIC NOTIFICATIONS

TO GUARDIANS

• Overdue report notifications are automatically

sent at 1 day and 20 days overdue

• Reminder notices are sent 30 days prior to an

upcoming due date.

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STATEWIDE ALERTS

ABOUT GUARDIANS

• Viewable statewide

• Electronic notification sent to court offices with an active case

• Require judicial authority to add or to remove an alert

• Accommodate extensive comments and attachment of documents

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FLAGGING CONCERNS OF LOSS

“Courts should provide ample support for guardians while

rigorously enforcing reporting responsibilities…Use of

technology, such as an e-filing system with automatic

capacity to flag problems may be the most important trend

for monitoring in an age when funds for staff are scarce.”

‘Improving Protective Probate Practices: Assessment of Guardianship and Conservatorship Procedures

in Probate and Mental Health Departments of the Maricopa County Superior Court’ – National Center for

State Courts

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STATISTICAL REPORTING

• Caseload statistical data

• Petitioner data

• Attorney representation data

• Guardian compensation data

• Asset protection data

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GOING FORWARD

• Looking at information sharing between

the GTS and the Social Security

Administration regarding abusive

representative payees

• Future enhancements planned for the

GTS

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Prior to

implementation

During the

migration to GTS

Today

Wong-Baker FACES Foundation (2018). Wong-Baker FACES® Pain Rating Scale. Retrieved [10/17/19] with permission from http://www.WongBakerFACES.org.

REACTIONS BY THE COURTS

TO THE GTS

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WE NOW HAVE DATA!

• Total active number of guardianship

cases as of November:

• Total assets under supervision of

the Pennsylvania courts:

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WE NOW HAVE DATA!

• Number of professional guardians

versus family/lay guardians:

• Number of professional guardians

that are organizations:

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TAKE IT FROM US…

• Lessons learned

• Practical advice if you are

considering an electronic

tracking system for guardianship

monitoring in your state

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THANK YOU FOR COMING!

Contact us:

Amy Whitworth:

amy.whitworth@pacourts.us

Cherstin Hamel:

cherstin.hamel@pacourts.us

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