Aging and Disability Services commissioner earns praise as he begins tough job

Chris Traylor's agency oversees state-supported living centers for people with mental disabilities.

Austin American Statesman

August 30, 2010

Corrie MacLaggan

Chris Traylor, commissioner of the Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services, had joined in on an Austin music class for people with disabilities Tuesday when the group decided to sing "Ring of Fire."

Ring of Fire? Traylor could relate.

"This," said Traylor, who took the helm at the department Jan. 1, "is about my job."

He was, of course, joking. But as the head of an agency under intense scrutiny from state lawmakers and federal officials because of substandard care at state institutions for people with mental disabilities, he might have one of the most difficult jobs in state government.

He must answer to the U.S. Department of Justice, which found in 2008 that state-supported living centers failed to protect residents from harm. He'll have to negotiate with lawmakers next year over spending for his department in what's expected to be a tight budget cycle. And he'll face advocates who think the institutions should be consolidated or closed and residents' relatives who say that closing them would be devastating.

But eight months into the job, the self-effacing Traylor is winning kudos for listening to all sides, for getting out of the office to see firsthand the results of his agency's work and for filling vacancies in the ranks of the crucial workers who provide hands-on care to some of the state's most vulnerable residents. Maybe, many people are saying, this guy could be the person to turn things around.

The buzz is so pervasive that the audience at a recent legislative hearing broke into applause for the new commissioner, a former House aide who has worked his way up through the state's health and human services management ranks.

"He has done a really good job of kind of toeing that line and trying to be receptive of all the different people who have a stake in the outcome of the way the system is run in Texas," said Beth Mitchell of Advocacy Inc. "Everybody has seen this shift in philosophy."

Traylor, for his part, says the applause had little to do with him. That's typical of the humble, reserved commissioner, say those who have worked closely with him.

"He's the opposite of ego-driven," said his boss, Health and Human Services Executive Commissioner Tom Suehs, who tapped Traylor for the job with the approval of Gov. Rick Perry. "He's driven to do what's right."

Starting out

Traylor, who turned 48 last week, is a baseball nut, a Christian and a married father of two teenagers who grew up in Lubbock and Harlingen in a family of cotton brokers. He graduated from Texas Tech University and got his start in public policy by working on agricultural issues.

He said his passion for his current work took root in the 1990s, when he was working for the House Committee on Human Services and his family fell on hard times.

"I happened to find myself working on these issues at a time in my life where things changed for me — my view on the world changed, my family changed," said Traylor, who declined to elaborate on those changes. "Some people might call it providential."

Traylor, who has worked in state human services jobs for 13 years, came to the department from the Health and Human Services Commission, where he spent three years overseeing the state's Medicaid program. Before that, he was the commission's chief of staff.

The living centers are the most high-profile part of Traylor's new job, which pays $163,200 a year. But the vast majority of the 300,000 Texans the agency serves aren't associated with those institutions. The department, which has more than 17,000 employees and an annual budget of $6.8 billion, also regulates nursing homes, assisted living facilities and home health providers and oversees contracts with organizations that provide services helping elderly Texans and those with disabilities live at home and in group homes.

Some of the members of the music class Traylor visited last week at Arc of the Arts on Burnet Road — a project of the nonprofit Arc of the Capital Area, which serves people with intellectual and developmental disabilities — receive state services in group homes. His visit was part of his effort to meet with recipients of state services, their parents and their advocates.

"You can learn more in an hour at a place like this than 10 hours sitting at a desk," Traylor said. "It gives you a sense of purpose about why you're doing your job."

He's also visited all 13 state-supported living centers, talking with workers — including those on the 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. shift — and holding town hall meetings for employees.

The focus on getting away from the office isn't new for Traylor.

Billy Millwee, who worked for him at the Health and Human Services Commission, said that when Traylor started overseeing Medicaid, he "sent an edict out" that workers must visit a Medicaid provider to see firsthand the impact of state policies.

"Critics of Medicaid prior to Chris' time said it was disconnected from the people it served," said Millwee, who now has Traylor's former job, associate commissioner for Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program. "Over time, you had people thinking in different terms. The job was no longer getting this policy done and put in place but about how this policy actually impacts lives."

Those who have worked with Traylor say he's a hardworking, approachable and visionary leader who is skilled at motivating people to do their best work.

"He doesn't rule or lead by fear, but at the same time, you know the rules," Millwee said. "Probably the worst thing you can do with Chris is to be dishonest or not be forthcoming with information."

Dealing with problems

The Department of Aging and Disability Services has been rocked with a series of scandals in recent years regarding the living centers. In 2009, Corpus Christi police said that employees of the center there had been organizing fights among residents. And in 2008, the U.S. Department of Justice reported in a letter to Perry that in a yearlong period, 53 residents of living centers died of preventable conditions such as respiratory failure that were "often the result of lapses in care."

Traylor, who has named new directors for the Lubbock and Austin living centers this year, said he believes that in a healthy organization, bad news travels quickly to the top.

"I want to embody a culture where staff is comfortable and confident that when issues arise, that they're escalated and addressed," he said.

Independent monitors reviewing the living centers as part of a settlement between the Justice Department and the state have cited staffing shortages and high turnover at the living centers, and Traylor has worked to fill vacancies. On Dec. 31, 10 percent of direct contact jobs were vacant at the living centers; seven months later, nearly all were filled. However, the centers still struggle to fill nursing and psychiatry jobs.

Among reforms put in place by the Legislature in 2009 was a requirement for fingerprint background checks for living center employees. Since the checks began a year ago, 214 applicants have been disqualified because of them, Traylor said. And as a result of new, random drug testing of employees, 50 tested positive and were fired and 10 refused testing and resigned, according to the Department of Aging and Disability Services.

Also as required by the Legislature, security cameras are monitoring living centers in Corpus Christi, Mexia, San Angelo, Denton and San Antonio; the rest are expected to be in operation by January.

"He has provided the sense of urgency necessary," said state Rep. Patrick Rose, D-San Marcos, chairman of the House Committee on Human Services. "Of course, we have progress yet to go, but I've been satisfied and pleased with the commissioner's work ethic and approach."

The monitors are expected to start reporting in September on how well the living centers are complying with the settlement.

State Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Flower Mound, said she appreciates Traylor's willingness to communicate with lawmakers.

"There has not always been the communication structure in the past that I would have liked," said Nelson, chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Health and Human Services. "I like to know immediately if there's a problem that we need to be addressing. He has been very responsive to that request."

Sandra Reeves, whose 53-year-old son lives at the Richmond living center, said she appreciates Traylor's willingness to listen to parents.

"Leadershipwise, I think he's a bright and shining star," said Reeves, a retiree who lives in Houston. As for Addie Horn, Traylor's predecessor, Reeves said: "Let me put it this way: I think it has greatly improved under Commissioner Traylor."

But Mitchell, of Advocacy Inc., said she's concerned that abuse is continuing. She pointed to the case of Corey Baker, a teen resident of the Austin living center who, according to a state investigative report, was physically abused this summer by an employee of the facility.

"We see the individuals being harmed every day, and we want to see a turnaround that was done yesterday, and that's not going to happen," Mitchell said. "I don't know that I can say we're behind (Traylor and his deputies) 100 percent, because we're not. … But we're willing to get behind him in hopes that he can fix a broken system."

cmaclaggan@statesman.com; 445-3548

Previous experience

• Associate commissioner for Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program, Texas Health and Human Services Commission, 2006-09

• Chief of staff, Health and Human Services Commission, 2004-06

• Deputy commissioner for government relations, Texas Department of Human Services, 2001-04

• Various positions, including interim regional administrator and public information officer, Department of Human Services 1997-2001

• Legislative director, office of then-state Sen. Drew Nixon, 1997

• Various positions, including chief of staff and committee clerk, office of state Rep. Harvey Hilderbran, chairman of House Human Services Committee, 1993-97

• Cotton broker, 1988-92

• Legislative staff, offices of then-U.S. Rep. Beau Boulter and then-U.S. Sen. Phil Gramm, 1986-88

Education

Bachelor of Arts in telecommunications, Texas Tech University, 1986