Paperwork maze endangering Colorado Medicaid patients, By Allison Sherry, March 3, 2010, Denver Post: “As Denver County and state attorney general investigators probe why an asthmatic boy on Medicaid couldn’t get his medication and died, advocates say eligibility glitches are a daily headache causing life-threatening problems for the poor. Since the recession drove thousands more people to the public safety net, advocacy lawyers have received an increasing number of calls from people unable to get health care or prescription drugs – even though they carry Medicaid or Child Health Plan Plus eligibility cards. ‘I deal with this every day. There is some problem, someone I have to call, and it hurts care,’ said Michelle Tafoya, an intake worker at Rose Pediatrics and herself a victim of a computer glitch. When Tafoya went to get antidepressants for her oldest son earlier this year, the system said he had no pharmacy benefits – even though he was enrolled in Child’s Health Plan Plus, or CHP. Because Tafoya battles with Medicaid discrepancies for a living, she asked the pharmacy for a loan on the drugs and started calling CHP contractors every day…”
Tag: Computer systems
Food Stamp Application Process – Colorado
Long delays in Colorado food aid may spur another lawsuit, By Allison Sherry, February 1, 2010, Denver Post: “Two years after the state promised to solve the long delays in its food- stamp and Medicaid programs, lawyers say there has not been enough improvement and are weighing whether to take the state back to court. Colorado is out of compliance with a legal settlement reached in 2007 that requires food stamps and Medicaid to be delivered within federal time frames, typically 30 days after an application is filed for food stamps and 45 days for Medicaid. Thousands of Coloradans are waiting beyond that. Roughly 19 percent of new food- stamp applications were delayed statewide in October. For Medicaid, 18 percent of new applicants didn’t get timely benefits that month, according to lawyers who get the data from the state as part of the 2007 settlement…”
Hybrid Welfare System – Indiana
- Indiana agency begins hybrid welfare plan rollout, By Ken Kusmer (AP), January 26, 2010, Fort Wayne Journal Gazette: “Indiana’s human services agency said Tuesday the state’s third try at effectively enrolling and keeping people on food stamps and other welfare benefits has begun rolling out, but one affected caretaker said the frustrations keep mounting. The Family and Social Services Administration said it has begun implementing what it’s calling a hybrid welfare intake system, involving caseworkers and some automation, in 10 southwestern Indiana counties. It follows the agency’s aborted bid to turn over highly automated welfare intake to private vendors – a plan designed to replace an outdated, paper-based casework system – that remains in 33 counties…”
- Indiana agency begins hybrid welfare plan rollout, By Eric Bradner, January 26, 2010, Evansville Courier and Press: “The Indiana Family and Social Services Administration rolled out its pilot ‘hybrid’ system for processing welfare applications in a swath of 10 Southwestern Indiana counties on Tuesday. The rollout means the state’s human services agency now has three ways of handling applications for Medicaid, food stamps and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families operating simultaneously. The hybrid pilot is now in place in Daviess, Dubois, Gibson, Knox, Perry, Pike, Posey, Spencer, Warrick and Vanderburgh counties. The recently abandoned ‘modernization’ effort, which severely restricted face-to-face interaction with agency workers and instead had those seeking benefits apply online or by phone, remains in 49 counties.