NEWS RELEASE
Date: Nov. 1, 2007
Contact: Stephanie Goodman, 512-424-6951
Audit Confirms HHSC System Calculates Benefits Correctly
AUSTIN ― The State Auditor’s Office has tested the state’s new social services computer system and concluded that it correctly determines whether Texans qualify for food stamps, TANF and Medicaid and that it calculates benefit amounts accurately.
“We’re pleased that the State Auditor confirmed that TIERS works,” said Texas Health and Human Services Executive Commissioner Albert Hawkins. “The audit also reaffirmed a decision we made in 2004 to change the TIERS database design. We’ve completed that redesign, and we’re continuing to implement other improvements recommended by the State Auditor and our technology team.”
The Texas Legislature authorized the development of a new computer system to determine whether Texans qualify for many social services in 1999. The new system, called the Texas Integrated Eligibility Redesign System, or TIERS, has been used in a pilot program in Travis and Hays counties since 2003. Williamson County cases were added to the new system in late 2006.
“The expectations for TIERS changed when the 2003 Legislature directed us to modernize our eligibility system and add new ways for clients to apply for services,” Hawkins said. “We’re in the process of making changes to TIERS to allow the system to perform better in a call center environment where information is collected in a different manner.”
Hawkins said the state’s efforts to redesign the TIERS screen structure, change the way user acceptance testing is conducted, and reduce manual data changes will address issues identified in the State Auditor’s report and improve the system.
In today’s eligibility system, most cases are processed in state offices. An applicant makes an appointment, and the caseworker collects information during a face-to-face interview. The state is moving to a new model that allows Texans to apply for state services in person, through the Internet, over the phone and by fax or mail. This means TIERS must be adapted to accept information in a variety of ways.
“TIERS is structurally sound and technologically advanced,” Hawkins said. “It’s a scalable and adaptable system that is going to serve the state well whether someone wants to apply for services in an office or over the phone.”
The State Auditor’s Office noted that TIERS collects a tremendous amount of data, creating significant storage requirements for the system.
“We’ve designed TIERS to meet the needs of several kinds of users,” Hawkins said. “The system must be able to calculate benefits correctly and ensure that we adhere to state and federal policy, and we must be able to quickly pull historical information for investigators and statistical information for researchers.”
The agency considered several options in deciding how to design a system that meets all those needs, Hawkins said. In the end, the agency opted to increase storage requirements to enable the system to collect more information and pull reports more quickly.
“Basically, we added storage to increase accountability and performance,” Hawkins said. “It’s a cost-effective decision because we have stricter policy adherence, and increased system performance means increased productivity because employees don’t have to wait 30 minutes for TIERS to pull a list of a client’s previous addresses or case history.”
TIERS collects twice as many data elements as the legacy system, known as SAVERR, to ensure stricter adherence to state and federal policy requirements. The state adds servers to TIERS as more storage and processing capacity is needed. The system currently provides benefits for more than 430,000 clients each month. That’s 11.6 percent of the state’s total caseload.
[Questions and Answers About TIERS Audit]
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