Strayhorn will probe screening contract

Strayhorn will probe screening contract

By Polly Ross Hughes,Houston Chronicle

AUSTIN - Texas Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn promised Wednesday to conduct a probe into the state's $899 million contract with Accenture LLP, the company hired to screen applicants for children's health insurance and other welfare programs.Strayhorn announced her plans after three lawmakers requested an investigation into Accenture's troubled performance under its call center contract with the Texas Health and Human Services Commission.The previous day, Strayhorn invited such requests, telling reporters in Austin, "I will audit Accenture if I get a request from a single state representative or a single senator, asking me to do so. It has been an absolute disaster."Wednesday, Strayhorn continued her criticism of the worldwide outsourcing company."The Accenture contract appears to be the perfect storm of wasted tax dollars, reduced access to services for our most vulnerable Texans and profiteering at the expense of Texas taxpayers," she said.Accenture, which manages a consortium of subcontractors called Texas Access Alliance, has come under increasing attack by a growing list of lawmakers angry that vulnerable Texans are losing benefits because of inadequate staffing and training at private call centers.Backlogs, dropped clientsAdvocates for the needy have complained lost or backlogged applications, long wait times on call center lines, inaccurate information from private call center staffers and eligible Texans erroneously cut from services."We are happy to work with the state and the client (the commission) on any review," said Jill Angelo of Austin-based Public Strategies Inc., hired to represent the alliance.Health and Human Services Commission spokeswoman Stephanie Goodman said the agency has briefed the comptroller on the Accenture contract and will "certainly provide additional information.""I hope that a comprehensive audit and performance review by your office can shed some light on the ongoing problems that are negatively affecting tens of thousands of Texans," wrote Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso, one of the lawmakers urging an investigation.He said he's concerned because the contractor's screening coincided with drops in CHIP and Children's Medicaid enrollment statewide, as well as huge backlogs of applications for food stamps and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families payments in Hays and Travis counties.Reps. Carlos Uresti, D-San Antonio, and Carter Casteel, R-New Braunfels, urged Strayhorn to look into myriad "hidden costs" in the commission's privatization plans that might not be evident to lawmakers.Comptroller scolds PerryFor example, they asked whether remedial actions the state is taking involving staff time, travel and housing expenses are included in calculations of expenses versus costs of the mammoth privatization project."We believe the people of Texas deserve a closer look. ... Hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars are funding a problem-plagued plan that threatens the health and safety of our citizens," they wrote.Strayhorn, who is running as an independent against Republican Gov. Rick Perry, laid blame for the stumbling call center efforts on her rival. Perry has direct control over the health and human services commission."The governor implemented this plan in haste," she said. "He fired state employees before he knew if the company could handle their jobs, and now the agency is bringing back those very state employees."Strayhorn 'flip-flop' allegedTechnically, the state employees were never fired by the commission that reports directly to the governor, but many were sent notices that their jobs were ending and the commission encouraged them to look elsewhere. When problems arose, they hired temporary workers to replace them.Perry spokeswoman Kathy Walt accused Strayhorn of a "flip-flop" on the call center issue, saying the comptroller recommended just such a plan in her 2003 E-Texas report called "Limited Government, Unlimited Opportunity."Strayhorn, however, said her recommendation was "very, very limited" to using private call centers for CHIP and Children's Medicaid only.Strayhorn asserts that she has "statutory authority" as state comptroller to conduct her review and audit of the Accenture contract, although Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott said last week that he thinks she exceeded her authority while investigating the Texas Residential Construction Commission.