Despite hurdles, Minnesota DHS chief continues push to clean up agency’s financial mess

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But auditor’s report is expected to reveal more grant oversight failures. 

In the fall of 2019, only weeks after taking the helm of Minnesota’s largest state agency, Human Services Commissioner Jodi Harpstead was thrust into a political firestorm over her department’s mishandling of tens of millions of dollars in Medicaid funds.

Before a chamber of angry lawmakers, Harpstead pledged to rebuild trust in the $21 billion agency, reinforcing her point by testifying next to a plaque with the word “trustworthy” etched in granite.

“There is nothing more important for the Minnesota Department of Human Services than to be trustworthy,” she declared. Continue reading.