State still lags in processing human services benefits
Web Posted: 09/21/2007 10:56 PM CDT
AUSTIN — Texas is still struggling with slow processing times for social service benefits and overburdened phone lines as it unwinds a failed privatization contract, health and human services officials said at a public hearing Friday.They outlined plans for several smaller private contracts in the coming three years as the state continues transitioning to call centers where people apply over the phone for a host of state and federal benefits.
But state employees criticized the plan, saying it would be better to hire more state workers for local offices where people apply for benefits in person.
"We're deeply concerned about plans to continue to contract out" work related to determining whether Texas families qualify for food and medical assistance, said Jerry Wald, a member of the Texas State Employees Union.
The Texas Health and Human Services Commission is developing the next steps in the transition to a new eligibility system. In March the state ended a troubled contract with Accenture, an outsourcing company the state had hired in 2005 to operate call centers and process applications for the Children's Health Insurance Program.
State eligibility workers were notified that their jobs were slated for elimination, and many found other jobs.
The privatization effort was beset by complaints of delays in enrollment and problems getting applications processed. Enrollment in CHIP dropped sharply, and HHSC officials quickly ended a pilot program using call centers to screen for a variety of government programs in Central Texas.
The state plans to award a contract next May for CHIP processing and call center operations. Future contracts will be awarded for a document-processing center, enrollment broker services and computer support.
The state auditor's office is reviewing HHSC's implementation of the 2003 integrated eligibility law that led to the Accenture contract. The audit also is reviewing a computer system known as TIERS that has been blamed for enrollment problems.
Anne Heiligenstein, deputy executive commissioner for social services, told an HHSC advisory council that the results of the audit will help the commission decide how to move forward.
TIERS, which is Web-based, will create electronic records and make it easier for state workers to check for fraud, Heiligenstein said.
But critics say the system hasn't worked properly since it was introduced in 1999. The HHSC inspector general said last year that investigators were unable to check for fraud and overpayments in food-stamp and other benefit programs in the two Central Texas counties where it is being used.
HHSC records show timeliness in processing food-stamp and Medicaid applications in the region using TIERS is lower than in any other region of the state. The gap is enough to make the entire state out of compliance with federal food-stamp processing requirements.
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