State takes back aid task (Blogger comments in parenthesis)

Guillermo X. GarciaExpress-News Staff Writer

Effective immediately, state workers again will be responsible for processing applications for assistance programs such as food stamps and Medicaid after myriad problems resulted with the private company hired to do the job.

Bermuda-based Accenture LLP won an $899 million, five-year contract early last year to take over the state's public assistance eligibility system. (Right - after their buddies at HHSC helped them draw up their proposal so that they would win the bid.....funny how alot of those who left management positions at HHSC's top level then went to work for Accenture or their affiliates...)

The switch comes about as state Health and Human Services officials acknowledge flaws with several components of the system, which is supposed to help applicants compile the information that's used to determine eligibility for public assistance programs.

State workers will continue to make the determination of whether an applicant qualifies.
Advocates for children and the poor have been critical of Accenture's work, attributing to the company a steep decline in the rolls of the Children's Health Insurance Program and a drop in the number of children covered by Medicaid.

The commission says the problems must be addressed and corrected, although it doesn't have a time frame by which it expects the problems to be fixed.

Among the problems:

Accenture workers have inadequate training and as a result are giving erroneous or contradictory information to applicants.

Program software is incompatible, causing delays in application processing and forcing workers to manually input information.

State eligibility offices are understaffed because of the departure of thousands of state workers who feared they would lose their jobs when Accenture took over.

Those understaffed state offices now will be required to deal with thousands of cases that are to be transferred out of Accenture's control. (Are we still paying them?)

"If the contractor is not able to do the job it promised it could do, (the task) is going to again fall on state workers, who are already working in understaffed offices ... which means their already unmanageable caseloads just got bigger, which means more (people) will suffer or not get the benefits they are entitled to," said Celia Hagert of the Center for Public Policy Priorities, an Austin-based nonprofit agency that researches issues affecting low-income Texans.

It is another unusual step in a controversy-filled project that began with the state's goal of streamlining a system that Health and Human Services officials said was inefficient and bloated.
In 2003, state officials said they wanted to revamp the entire eligibility system to allow applicants more options when they applied for public assistance. The Legislature that year passed HB 2292, a massive bill that reorganized the state's health care system. (And we all know they did not read the bill! I have heard this from some of their own mouths....)

A cornerstone of the legislation allowed HHSC to determine if privatization would suit the state's needs.

A debate has ensued, pitting advocates for the poor against the state's health care bureaucracy and Accenture, the multinational private company that now operates the system.

State officials said they wanted to do away with long waiting lines at state welfare offices, so Accenture launched a program that would replace the face-to-face application process with one available over the Internet or the phone. (We did not have long lines in our offices until TAA took over. We managed our offices and our clients got their benefits timely).

But the transfer to a privately run operator has been far from smooth, state officials acknowledge.

Citing numerous operational problems, HHSC twice in recent months postponed rolling out its highly touted electronic eligibility system, which it said was projected to save Texas about $390 million over five years.

"We have no expectations about when we move forward, but the delay will continue until we see improvements. We know adjustments need to be made, and they will be," HHSC spokeswoman Stephanie Goodman said Tuesday. (DUH.....and I really hate the use of that word, but it sounds appropriate now)

Beginning in meetings with senior agency staff last Friday and continuing with meetings with lower level supervisors and front line agency workers Monday, word leaked out about the changes that are expected to be formally announced today.

The system operated by Accenture includes four privately run call centers around the state that eventually will replace hundreds of local offices staffed by state workers. Already, the San Antonio call center, which is to serve a large swath of South Texas, has become the largest in the state, employing more than 500 workers.

It is not clear what other tasks the private workers will be performing because the jobs they were supposed to do will now be done by public employees.

More than 5,000 cases that had caused a backlog at the Midland call center also will be turned over to state workers for disposition.

Those cases have been pending for months.

Some of the cases being transferred from Midland have been pending since January, months past the time frame required by federal rules, state employee union officials said.

(Already delinquent - who takes responsibility for these delinquencies? HHSC better not hold the local office workers accountable for this!)

Those officials and veteran Health and Human Services employees say dealing with the backlog is only going to aggravate a morale problem for what they say are already overworked state employees.

The state planned to save money by having Accenture compile and screen applications, a task previously handled by state caseworkers. Health and Human Services officials said that by having private employees do the job faster and more efficiently through use of more advanced computer technology, the state could reduce the number of state workers on its rolls.

But because of the persistent problems, the agency's plan has been put on indefinite hold.

"We know we need to make adjustments, and with a program of this size, that is not a minor effort," spokeswoman Goodman said. "This is a (problem) with short-term impact, but it is a good system and a good program that works, and we will continue with it." (After 3 years of this and it still doesn't work, I don't believe "short-term impact" quite covers it! Texas will not recover from this for years!)


ggarcia@express-news.net