NEWS RELEASE

Date: May 4, 2006
Contact: Stephanie Goodman or Gail Randall (512) 424-6951

HHSC Issues 30-Day Review of New Eligibility System

AUSTIN – Texas Health and Human Services Executive Commissioner Albert Hawkins said progress has been made but more work needs to be done before the state resumes rollout of a new system designed to make it easier for Texans to apply for Medicaid, food stamps and other services.

Hawkins announced a delay in the rollout on April 5 and said the Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) would review the system’s readiness again in 30 days. He said the review showed significant progress in reducing call center abandonment rates and wait times, but additional training and technical improvements must be made before further rollouts.
                 
HHSC first implemented the new system in Travis and Hays counties on Jan. 20, 2006. Since that time, it has received more than 250,000 calls, including 18,000 calls and 1,600 Internet applications after normal business hours – times when consumers were not able to receive state assistance in the past.

“We recognize that modernizing a system of this size and complexity is never easy,” Hawkins said. “But we remain focused on implementing a system that finally allows Texans to choose how they want to apply for services, is built on modern technology and makes the most of limited state resources.”

Hawkins said HHSC is taking several steps to improve performance of the new system:

• State staff are positioned with customer service representatives in the Midland call center to ensure that callers receive accurate information.
• New cases in the pilot area will not be processed at the San Antonio center until the system there is improved. The current system relies on manual data entry and is unable to process cases quickly enough, and it does not allow for sufficient reporting about the status of cases.
• New training is being developed for customer service representatives in the call centers after a state review found that call center staff were not equipped to handle some types of  questions. An escalation process also has been implemented to ensure that complex policy questions are directed to state staff.
• Customer services representatives will receive additional system training. HHSC found that the representatives often are unable to conduct thorough records searches, leading them to tell callers that applications or information could not be located even though the information already had been entered into the system.

HHSC also will retain an additional 1,000 state workers and will pay retention bonuses to help keep state staff in place during the transition. This means HHSC will retain about 3,900 eligibility employees. There are currently about 4,800 regular-status eligibility employees. HHSC has hired more than 900 temporary employees to help offices experiencing high turnover during the transition.

Hawkins said HHSC would continue to work on improvement plans for the new system, a revised rollout schedule, and updated savings projections.

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