What has happened so far?

In December 2006, Indiana's Family and Social Services Administration (FSSA) signed a 10 year contract with IBM Consortium for more than $1 Billion to provide eligibility services for:

• Medicaid (all types)
• Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF)
• Food Stamps
• IMPACT (Indiana’s Employment and Training program for TANF and Food Stamp recipients)

Current Status (as of August ’07)

• On March 19, 2007 approximately 70% of state staff became employees of the Vendor (ACS)
• 30% of employees remained as state employees, responsible for making final eligibility determination as required by law.
• Vendor employees provide assistance in filing applications and “back-office” services.
• All workers continue to have assigned cases until changes are made in the region.
• Many staff will move to the Call Center or Service Center as changes are implemented.

Changes that are now beginning to be implemented

• Oct. 22, 2007 Region 1 began using new processes to apply for benefits.
• New system relies more on technology: Fax; Phone; Website; Mail; and E-mail.
• Call Centers and Service Centers are being used to process applications, assist clients and scan documents.
• State is beginning to rely on Volunteer Community Assistance Network (V-CAN) to provide access to technology for clients in local communities.

Will Indiana be a repeat of Texas?

The Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) privatized the eligibility system as required by the Texas Legislature in 2 steps:

• Created an integrated internet based eligibility system, TIERS
• Signed a contract on 6/30/05 with Accenture, LLP to provide eligibility services.

On January 20, 2006 a 3 month pilot was launched in two counties.

Results of Pilot (April 2006)

• In March, almost 44% of contacts to the call center were abandoned.
• Wait times of up to 20 minutes common.
• Poor customer service and problem solving.
• Under staffed to meet the demand.
• High volume of applications and longer processing time than anticipated.
• Interface problems that required data to be entered twice.
• Staffing shortages that caused delays in benefits and improperly terminated benefits.

After the Pilot – Texas

• Rebalanced roles of state and vendor staff clarified roles of vendor staff and limited tasks.
• Increased the number of state eligibility workers.
• Reduced the contract by $356 million.
• Implemented a plan to deal with increasing Food Stamp error rates and backlogs in processing applications.
• In March 2007 HHSC announced it was terminating the contract with Texas Access Alliance and restructuring the system.