BUTLER TWP — The county Area Agency on Aging is calling upon everyone who cares about older adults to call their state representative and state senator, plus Gov. Tom Wolf, to join in a protest against contracting the for-profit health care services company Maximus for enrollment and assessment services in the county.

Beth Herold said at the agency's monthly meeting on Tuesday that the 52 area agencies on aging across Pennsylvania have filed an official protest against the state Department of Human Services, who awarded the bid for the services to Maximus.

She said Maximus now does older-adult enrollment into long-term care for the county and the Area Agency on Aging does assessments to determine the level of care an older adult might need, whether in-home or in a facility.

But the state Department of Human Services put the two services together and asked for bids, and the contract was recently awarded to Maximus.

“We feel this is not the best move for older members or younger people with disabilities,” Herold said.

Herold said agency assessors are familiar with the county and can run to the doctor's office or bank to grab a form for a client or make phone calls for them if needed.

“We really stress to our individuals that the Area Agency on Aging is a trusted entity,” Herold said. “We are the ones climbing under the bed looking for insurance information. I'm not sure Maximus is going to be able to do that.”

She said Maximus will be performing assessments for the older adults in every county in the western part of the state from a hub office, which she is afraid will mainly be done over the phone and online.

Older adults, she said, are told not to give out personal information over the phone and often cannot navigate robocalls or fill out online forms.

Herold listed a host of other scenarios in which older adults could suffer decreased personal service when assessments are taken over by Maximus, which operates in the U.S., the U.K., Canada, Saudi Arabia and Australia.

She said her agency performs about 1,500 face-to-face assessments per year in the county.

Leslie Osche, county commissioners chairwoman, said what she has heard about the service provided by Maximus has been “horrific.

“Relationships in the community are critical to get these (assessments) done,” Osche said. “(Maximus assessors) don't have relationships in the community.

“What's happening in the (state) departments of aging, human services and health right now makes zero sense to me.”

Osche said health care is moving to a managed care model with insurance companies calling the shots, and Maximus department leaders who are making care plans do not have experience actually caring for people.

“(Maximus) is not listening to the people with experience,” she said. “It's an ongoing struggle.”

Herold said she has reached out to all state senators and representatives in the county, and all are behind her protest.

She said AARP is also behind the protest of Maximus providing assessments for the state's county Agency on Aging offices.

Osche said phone calls to state elected officials would be more effective than letters.

Maximus officials could not be reached for comment on Tuesday.

On its website, Maximus claims it is “the market leader in health services,” serving 52 million Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program beneficiaries, and operating 72 state and local health programs.