Texas Today

TEXAS STATE EMPLOYEES UNION

Sources: announcement set for Tuesday, March 13

TSEU has received the word from several sources that Accenture and HHSC will jointly announce on March 13 that the contract will be “unraveled”, with each party “going its way.”

The word is that Accenture is feeling pressure to do the job right including making the TIERS system work and is balking at the cost.

Human Services might still not be on track .

According to the sources, HHSC might put forward a plan to re-bid the contract rather than concentrate on rebuilding the system we had, which actually worked until they started dismantling it.

While this development goes a long way toward ending a wasteful and damaging boondoggle, it does not by itself result in a restoration of quality human services eligibilit. TSEU will continue to call for implementation of our plan, which includes:

1. Terminate the Accenture contract.

2. Rebuild a functioning human services eligibility system.

A. Hire more staff: It would require less than 1000 additional positions to rebuild the staff to the 2004 levels. Add these staff and re-evaluate staffing levels in 2009.

B. Rebuild a qualified staff:

1.) Create a program to bring skilled, tenured staff who have left back into the agency.

2.) Reverse the damage caused by the Job Search and Placement ( JSAP) program by following all HHSC employees who accepted transfers under JSAP to return to their original positions.

3.) Rebuild the training program for eligibility staff.

4.) Cancel the Convergys contract and rebuild effective human resources/personnel

services to support management and front-line staff.

C. Consider creative ways to enhance services. Ask front-line eligibility staff for ideas.

3. Integrate CHIP eligibility with children’s Medicaid Eligibility in the state-operated intake system.
HHSC already operates state-employee-staffed call centers in El Paso, Houston, Austin, and San Antonio, and Dallas that do intake for Children’s Medicaid. The CHIP and Children’s Medicaid programs are closely related: integrating eligibility would provide a seamless, “one-stop” system in which a single qualified worker would directly enroll the applicant in whichever program they are eligible for. This step would reduce costs and increase accuracy and timeliness in providing these crucial services to Texas children.

4. Deploy a cost-effective, functional data system for human services eligibility.

A. Have a task force that is outside the HHSC structure and answerable to the Legislature re-evaluate both the TIERS system and the SAVERR system to determine the systems’ present and potential functionality.

B. Move decisively on the findings of the study to either complete the development of TIERS or cancel the project; to implement an upgrade of SAVERR , or to pursue a new approach.

C. Suspend all input or conversion of cases into TIERS until the future of the system has been decided and, if it is decided to keep TIERS, until the system is fully functional.

D. Seek and accept the input of front-line human services staff as part of all decision-making and developmental steps to deploy a functional system.

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