Alameda County Service Center & Tools Call Center & Imaged Client Cases Foster Care Tracking System Customer Automated Response System Adult & Aging Automated Response System April 15, 2009
About Alameda County Social Services Population of Alameda County 1.53 million people 9,000 County Employees 2200 Social Service Agency Employees Five major departments Economic Benefits (TANF) Employment Services Children and Family Services Adult & Aging Administration & Finance 2
Clients Served by SSA 19,199 TANF Clients 69,787 Medicaid Clients 28,230 Food Stamp Clients 9,190 General Assistance Clients 2,058 Foster Care Children 17,344 Adult & Aging Clients 17,344 In-home Support Workers (service providers) 3
Service Center Operations Call Center Operations Twenty-four Call Center Specialist (Eligibility Support Clerks) Programs: CalWorks, Medi-Cal, Food Stamps, General Assistance General Information: office hours, location Specific Information: case status, benefit amount, food stamp stagger day, BIC card, and verification letters issuances Client incoming calls and web inquiry now exceeds 100,000 monthly 60% Handled by IVR 25% Handled by Call Center 15% Handled by Eligibility Worker 4
Volume and Percentage Calls Handled by IVR Services Jan 2008 March 2009 120,000 100,000 80,000 60,000 40,000 20,000 0 102,721 59% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% jan2k8 feb2k8 mar2k8 apr2k8 may2k8 jun2k8 jul2k8 aug2k8 sep2k8 oct2k8 nov2k8 dec2k8 jan2k9 feb2k9 mar2k9 Total Percent Usage of CARS IVR & IVR WEB Total CARS IVR and IVR WEB Client Contact 5
Re-determination Papers Clear up Sanctions Food Stamp Medical Service Center Work Flow Client Contact Entry Points Imaging & IVR Call Center U.S. Mail Offices: San Pablo (North) Eastmont (Central) Eden (South) Telephone and WEB: CARS IVR (Customer Automated Voice Response System) Prep Docs Clear QR7 Scan Docs Index Docs To EW Case Systems: CalWIN SMART: Case # Lookup Worker # Lookup IVR: Reissue BIC Reissue Verification Letters Food Stamp Benefits Stagger Benefit Status CalWORKS Medi-Cal General Assistance Verify Receipt of QR7 Reissue BIC, W2 Appt reschedules Address update Food Stamp Stagger Day Trouble Shooting 6
Service Center Operations Imaging Center Operations Centralized Imaging Some Local Imaging planned Thirty Imaging Specialist Programs Imaged: CalWorks, Medi-Cal, Food Stamps, General Assistance, In- Home Supportive Services, Foster Care, Refugee All U.S. Mail (Client Correspondence) imaged same day Mail from One-Stop Centers 72 hours 7
Before Imaging Case Requests took 3 to 10 Days Benefit Center Processes Requests ET Requests Client Cases Desk Top PC Fax Phone Closed Case Warehouse Worker Prepares Cases for Delivery to requestors Mail Clerk Delivers Case to requestor Cases trucked to various locations 8
30,000 Square Feet of Hard Case Client Folders 9
IN BINS, ON WORK TRAYS, UNDER DESKS! 10
Cases Per Program July- Nov. 2005 60,000 50,000 40,000 52,426 83,302 cases 35 million pieces of paper 200 boxes of unfiled documents 30,000 20,000 10,000 0 17,430 8,828 4,534 35 Food Stamp GA Medi-CAL Refugee CalWORKS 11
Imaging Center 12
Imaging Center Stats Monthly Average 320,376 Documents 609,628 Pages Monthly Average per worker 10,679 Documents 20,320 Pages Weekly Average 2,670 Documents 5,080 Pages 13
Scanning Log On 14
Scanning 15
Scanning QC 16
Indexing to Case Number 17
Imaging Complete 18
Inter-active Response Systems (IVR) Interactive Voice Response System Customer Automated Response System (CARS) Medi-Cal CalWorks Food Stamps General Assistants Inter-active WEB Response System 19
About Customer Automated Response System (CARS) Implemented April 2005 Handled an average of 40,000 monthly Services TANF, Medicaid, Food Stamps, and General Assistance Customers Provides general and specific case information Active/inactive/pending status Amount of TANF grant 20
TANF (Welfare) Department Challenges 2005 conversion to new eligibility system created confusion for client, worker, supervisor, manager, directors alike Customer calls jumped from 70,000 in October 2005 to 140,000 in March 2006 Customers unable to get basic information regarding their case due to overwhelmed workers Voice Mail Full Clients calls not returned Customers were only served during business hours (8:30am-5pm) 21
TANF (Welfare) Department Challenges Lots of telephone call drop offs Lots of telephone call line busy Clients on hold for longer than 30 minutes Customer complaints to the Board of Supervisors 22
3 1/2 Year History: Call Volume & Percent Handled by IVR and WEB IVR Total Call Volume 160,000 140,000 120,000 100,000 80,000 60,000 40,000 20,000 143,748 CalWIN ````````````` 63% 59% 102,721 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% Percent Usage 0 Oct 2k5 Nov 2k5 Dec 2k5 Jan 2k6 Feb 2k6 Mar 2k6 april 2k6 May 2k6 Jun 2k6 jul 2k aug 2k6 sep 2k6 oct 2k6 nov 2k6 dec 2k6 jan 2k7 feb 2k7 mar2k7 apr2k7 may2k7 jun2k7 jul2k7 aug2k7 sep2k7 oct2k7 nov2k7 dec2k7 jan2k8 feb2k8 mar2k8 apr2k8 may2k8 jun2k8 jul2k8 aug2k8 sep2k8 oct2k8 nov2k8 dec2k8 jan2k9 feb2k9 mar2k9 0% Total CARS IVR Calls Percent Handled by IVR & IVR WEB Uncertainty of CalWIN gave way to greater acceptance of IVR 23
Interactive Voice Response Systems Support Clients and Employees Adult & Aging Automated Response System (AAARS) Plus Web Component 24
About AARS Implemented September 2006 Handles on average 82 percent of all IHSS calls Offers general and specific information for both the client and the care giver English, Spanish, Chinese 25
Adult and Aging Services Challenges 20 employees responsible for processing over 34,000 In-home Support Workers monthly Not enough staff to handle payroll and the 40,000 customer calls each month IHSS workers seek immediate acknowledgement that their timesheets have been received and processed 26
AARS Services for Clients Status of their case Share of Cost Authorized Hours Next Reassessment Due Date Case Worker s Name and Phone Number Medicaid information Active/discontinued/pending status Auto verification of verification letter for medicaid 27
AARS Services for Service Providers Number of hours authorized to work in current and next month Date last timesheet received, including: pay period, no. of hours, net amount Status of payment: in the system, check print and mail date, check cashed Auto request for duplicate W2, W4, and letter of Employment Verification 28
Percentage of VRU Handled IHSS Calls 4000 2500 Use of WEB for IHSS Info 3500 3000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 0 Dec- 06 Jan- 07 Feb- 07 Mar- 07 Apr- 07 May- 07 Jun- 07 Jul- 07 Aug- 07 Sep- 07 Oct- 07 Nov- 07 Dec- 07 Jan- 08 Feb- 08 Mar- 08 Apr- 08 May- 08 2000 1500 1000 500 0 Client and Provider Useage Tot WEB Client Provider 29
Interactive Voice Response Systems Support Clients and Employees Foster Care Tracking System (FCTS) Plus Web Component 30
Foster Care Department Challenges Overpayments to foster care providers $2,945,541.00 year 2000 $243,962 monthly year 2000 Inconsistent methods of communicating placement changes Telephone Email Fax Interoffice memo Sticky note No communication at all 31
Children and Family Services (CFS) Challenges Late and/or inaccurate FC Provider payments often late due to error prone manual procedures Payments to FC Providers often late and/or inaccurate due to error prone manual procedures Poor child tracking processes resulted in continuous payments long past placement termination Inconsistent verification of child placement changes for CWW 32
Foster Care Overpays Since 1996 Alameda SSA Historical FC Overpayment Chart 3000000 2500000 2000000 1500000 $2,927,541 $2,483,473 VRU Begins Oct 2003 $1,512,365 1000000 500000 0 $386,243 96/96 97/98 98/99 99/00 00/01 2k1/2k2 2k2/2k3 2k3/2k4 2k4/2k5 2k5/2k6 2k6/2k7 2k7/2k8 2k8/2k9 Annual Monthly Average Monthly Overpayments 1996-2008 $300,000 $250,000 $243,962 overpayment Dollars $200,000 $150,000 $100,000 $50,000 $206,956 VRU Begins Oct 2003 $126,030 $32,187 $0 96/96 97/98 98/99 99/00 00/01 2k1/2k2 2k2/2k3 2k3/2k4 2k4/2k5 2k5/2k6 2k6/2k7 2k7/2k8 2k8/2k9 33
The FCTS Solution for CFS An automated stop payment to a provider when a child changes placement An automated start payment for child s placement in a new foster care provider An automated way of documenting that change of placement An automated way of informing the Child Welfare Worker the change placement notification has been received 34
Foster Care Tracking System Functions Automated tracking of child placement status Runaways Out-of-home Prevents overpayments to foster care providers via CalWiN interface Accurate and on-time payments to foster care providers Easy to use 35
Foster Care Providers 24/7 Access for Providers Only issues grants when appropriate (month/day of change) Sends automated emails to CWWs Verification of placement change Child out of home Runaways 36
Foster Care Tracking System 37
IVR Reference Card for Child Welfare Workers 38
Questions Call Center & Imaged Client Cases Foster Care Tracking System Customer Automated Response System Adult & Aging Automated Response System