AFSCME Privatization Update

Source: Jason Embry, AMERICAN-STATESMAN, Tuesday, May 06, 2008

A move in Congress to limit the role of private firms in doling out food stamps is dead for now, allowing Texas to move forward with its privatization plans.

U.S. House and Senate negotiators voted late last week against including a privatization ban in a $300 billion farm bill that lawmakers hope to finish this week. The ban would have prevented states from allowing employees of private companies to interact with people who are applying for food stamps or to decide someone's eligibility.

...... Last year, Texas canceled what was originally a five-year, $899 million contract with Accenture LLP to run call centers enrolling people in services. But the state did not altogether abandon its plan for private call centers, which state officials say can save money and give Texans more ways to apply for services, instead of just in person.

Posted by Info Center at 3:09 PM in Federal | Laws/Legislation | Social Services | Permalink
Tags: Texas

Source: By ROBERT T. GARRETT, The Dallas Morning News (TX), Tuesday, April 22, 2008

The state, to relieve overworked eligibility screeners, will suspend for the rest of the year interviews its workers usually have to conduct with food stamp recipients every six months, officials said Monday.

...... The state has been scrambling to rebuild its eligibility-screening workforce and improve performance at four privately run call centers after the disastrous 2006 launch of a partly privatized system of social program signups.

Posted by Info Center at 3:42 PM in Social Services | Permalink
Tags: Texas

Source: By ROBERT T. GARRETT, The Dallas Morning News (TX), Monday, April 7, 2008

Lawmakers are worried that a partly privatized system for determining who receives public assistance is still shaky and may not be salvageable. Paperwork for applicants has been lost. Needy Texans have received little help from state workers when they've complained of mistakes. And all too often, Texans who should qualify for state-paid health care and other benefits have been refused because of such errors.

...... The problems could also distract Texas officials as they separately seek to overhaul Medicaid, the nation's main health care program for the poor.

Posted by Info Center at 3:13 PM in Information Technology | Social Services | Permalink
Tags: Texas

Source: By Corrie MacLaggan, AMERICAN-STATESMAN (TX), Sunday, March 23, 2008

First thing Thursday morning, a dozen new state caseworkers arrived at a North Austin office building for a training class on enrolling Texans in the food stamp and Medicaid programs. Just a couple of months into their jobs, one after another said they're excited about helping people and confident they can handle the work. But if history is any guide, eight of them will be gone by fall. Employees overwhelmed by their workload are leaving the Health and Human Services Commission in droves.

..... Some of the agency's staffing problems date to fall 2005, when Hawkins informed 2,900 eligibility workers that they would not have a job after the start of a privatization plan. The agency hired Accenture LLP to run call centers to enroll Texans in benefits. After a troubled pilot program in Central Texas in 2006, the state parte

Posted by Info Center at 2:52 PM in Information Technology | Social Services | Permalink
Tags: Texas

Source: Associated Press (IN), Monday March 17, 2008

State officials say the rollout of the state's new privatized welfare system is going well enough to expand it to a large swath of southern and western Indiana.

Some advocates for the needy warn, beware.

...... A coalition of vendors led by IBM Corp. and Affiliated Computer Services Inc. operates the project's service center in Marion. Call response times once as high as 9 1/2 minutes have fallen to two to four minutes since the phone staff was doubled to about 80 in mid-January, Main said.

Posted by Info Center at 10:48 AM in Social Services | Permalink
Tags: Indiana

Source: By Jason Embry and Corrie MacLaggan, AMERICAN-STATESMAN, Monday, February 04, 2008

In a direct response to problems in Texas, Congress is considering new limits on the role that private companies can play in states' public assistance programs. A provision in a major farm bill approved by the U.S. House would bar states from allowing employees of private firms to interact with people who are applying for food stamps or to decide someone's eligibility for the program. The measure could force Texas to rework its plans to privatize food stamp enrollment.

....... In 2007, Texas canceled what was originally a five-year, $899 million contract with Accenture LLP to run call centers enrolling people in services. But the state did not abandon its plans for private call centers.

Posted by Info Center at 1:39 PM in Federal | Social Services | Permalink
Tags: Texas

Source: By David Haldane, Los Angeles Times (CA), January 24, 2008

A contract Orange County employee who worked with welfare recipients was arrested Wednesday for allegedly stealing more than $300,000 from the county, authorities said.

....... At the time of the alleged crimes -- from 2005 to 2007 -- Gonzalez was a supervisor for Arbor Education and Training, an independent company contracted to provide services including financial assistance for housing and basic needs.

Posted by Info Center at 3:15 PM in Horror Stories | Social Services | Permalink
Tags: California

Source: By Michelle Sheldone, TCPalm.com (FL), Tuesday, January 15, 2008

PORT ST. LUCIE -- The Port St. Lucie center that helps manage the state's affordable health insurance program for children plans to remain in the area for another three months.

Call center employees with Policy Studies Inc. enroll and re-enroll participants in the state's Florida KidCare program, which is designed for ages 5 through 18 and administered by the public-private Florida Healthy Kids Corp.

Dallas-based Affiliated Computer Services was scheduled to take over the service by Feb. 1, but Affiliated Computer Services underestimated the work effort and experienced staff turnover, according to an Affiliated Computer Services letter excerpt that Florida Healthy Kids representatives provided.

Posted by Info Center at 10:53 AM in Social Services | Permalink
Tags: Florida

Source: By Deborah Yetter, The Courier-Journal (KY), Tuesday, December 18, 2007

A state audit found no evidence of savings in the state Medicaid program promised by the administration of former Gov. Ernie Fletcher, who claimed Medicaid reform as one of his top accomplishments in his failed re-election bid.

...... Luallen, a Democrat, said her office waited until after the Nov. 6 election to release the audit so it would not become an issue in the governor's race.

....... Medicaid spends about $300 million a year on three private contractors to process claims, manage information, operate a call system for members and operate its prescription drug program. But until recently they operated with little oversight or accountability.

In July, Medicaid hired an outside company, Accenture, to monitor the three other outside contractors -- even though Texas fired that company last year for poor performance on a contract.

........ State Sen. Ernesto Scorsone, a Lexington Democrat on the Health and Welfare Committee, said he's concerned about the growth in outside contractors for the Medicaid program listed in the audit report.

"I think the only winners are the outside vendors who have made money off the state," he said.

Posted by Info Center at 11:25 AM in Audits/Reporting | Health | Horror Stories | Social Services | Permalink
Tags: Kentucky

Source: Maria Hickey, KWMU, December 17, 2007

A group of parents and employees held a rally Monday opposing plans for privatization at the Bellefontaine Habilitation Center.

The Missouri Department of Mental Health announced in August it would seek private vendors to take on 120 of the residents at private, community-based programs.

But many employees and parents are unhappy with the plan.

Posted by Info Center at 10:59 AM in Mental Health | Social Services | Permalink
Tags: Missouri

Source: By Niki Kelly, The Journal Gazette (IN), December 18, 2007 6:00 a.m.

Several former employees of the Fort Wayne State Developmental Center filed a class-action lawsuit in Marion Superior Court, seeking monetary damages as the result of an improper privatization process.

...... The lawsuit claims that many employees lost the benefits associated with state employment, and that the contract with Liberty should be declared void.

"The Daniels administration flagrantly violated the law," said David Warrick, executive director of AFSCME, the union representing the employees.

Posted by Info Center at 10:41 AM in Mental Health | Social Services | Permalink
Tags: Indiana

Source: AFSCME Council 24, AFSCME Legislative Update, November 1, 2007

Another issue of interest to AFSCME that was not vetoed was language in the budget requiring the state DHFS to issue a "request for proposals" and contract out the delivery of pharmaceutical services for residents at all DHFS institutions, including Sand Ridge Secure Treatment Facility, the Wisconsin Resource Center, Winnebago Mental Health Institute, Mendota Mental Health Institute, and all three state Centers for the Developmentally Disabled.

Posted by Info Center at 6:00 PM in Health | Social Services | Permalink

Source: The Associated Press / The Ann Arbor News (MI), October 31, 2007 07:02AM

....... A compromise was reached on the last sticking point: Turning over more of the state's adoption, foster care and juvenile justice services to private hands. Under the compromise, a medium-security section of the Maxey facility on M-36 would close and 60 youthful offenders would be moved to private facilities.

The more than 130 affected workers would be allowed to transfer elsewhere in the Department of Human Services instead of losing their jobs.

"We are protecting those people who have been public employees for a long time," said House Appropriations Chairman George Cushingberry Jr., D-Detroit. He said private agencies can help lighten the backlog of cases handled by an overburdened and understaffed DHS.

Posted by Info Center at 10:55 AM in Corrections | Social Services | Permalink
Tags: Michigan

Source: By Ken Kusmer, Associated Press (IN), October 29, 2007 4:19 PM

Applying for food stamps or Medicaid was just a telephone call or mouse click away for residents of 12 north central Indiana counties Monday with the state's initial rollout of its closely watched, privatized welfare eligibility system.

. ....... The Democratically controlled Congress also is watching FSSA's progress. A provision in the House version of the federal farm bill would force Indiana and other states to reverse steps they've taken to privatize food stamps and return that work to state employees.

Posted by Info Center at 1:22 PM in Federal | Information Technology | Social Services | Permalink
Tags: Indiana

Source: By Ken Kusmer, Associated Press (IN), October 19, 2007

The state's human services agency decided Thursday to postpone the initial rollout of its automated welfare eligibility system by at least a week to Oct. 29 because of software problems.

The Family and Social Services Administration had been anticipating a Monday launch of the automated system for a 12-county area of Northern Indiana centered around Marion. However, software problems prompted the decision to push back the launch by a week, FSSA Secretary Mitch Roob told The Associated Press.

Posted by Info Center at 1:20 PM in Information Technology | Social Services | Permalink
Tags: Indiana

Source: By DAVE LIEBER, Star-Telegram (TX), October 14, 2007

.... The ringing phones are fallout from a major experiment in state government that nearly everyone involved calls a disaster. Texas tried to become the first state to outsource to private companies the administration of its top assistance programs such as food stamps, Medicaid and cash assistance for needy families.

The state hired a group of companies, led by technology consulting firm Accenture, for $899 million for five years to run call centers, update the department's technology systems and perform other duties. But the company's debut in several Central Texas call centers was such a disaster that state officials called the project off. By then, though, many longtime state employees had left, thinking their jobs were gone.

Posted by Info Center at 11:01 AM in Horror Stories | Social Services | Permalink

Source: By Patrick Brantlinger, Academe Online, September/October 2007

Seeking to raise money for new academic buildings and programs, Indiana University's board of trustees is exploring outsourcing its "auxiliary-service" units. These units manage printing and food services, the university's bookstores, campus motor pools, and other functions.

To prevent job loss and wage cuts among hundreds of long-term university employees, the pro-labor organization Jobs with Justice--of which I am a member --has joined forces with local and state officials and IU's unions: the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), which represents service and maintenance staff, and the Communications Workers of America (CWA), which represents clerical and technical employees.

...... Daniels also signed a $1.16-billion deal with IBM to run Medicaid, food stamps, and other poverty-relief programs. In fact, he would like to privatize the entire state welfare system, which he calls "the worst" in the nation. ( Just how he knows that it is the worst is unclear, but he obviously dislikes welfare.)

Posted by Info Center at 3:01 PM in Higher Education | Social Services | Permalink
Tags: Indiana

Source: By JONATHAN WALTERS, Governing Magazine, September 2007

It's been just over a half a year since the Texas Health and Human Services Commission cancelled its $900 million, five-year contract with Accenture to run four call centers that would handle social services intake and screening over the phone. In the aftermath of the Texas contracting debacle, both the state and advocates have been working to pick up the pieces. Not surprisingly, though, state officials and advocates for children and family have a fairly divergent view of how it's going right now.

Posted by Info Center at 2:59 PM in Horror Stories | Social Services | Permalink

Source: By JONATHAN WALTERS, Governing Magazine, September 2007

Texas' first foray into a high-profile streamlining of social and health services delivery paid off impressively: In 1993, the Lone Star state won an Innovations in American Government award for its landmark effort to knit more than a dozen separate child care programs together through a "unitary" application. Even more revolutionary, parents and guardians no longer had to travel to a state welfare office to apply for the programs in person; they could do that by phone or mail.

Fast-forward to the spring of 2007, when Texas was back in the social and health services spotlight. This time, however, instead of emerging as a model of success, the state became Exhibit A in how to engineer a multimillion-dollar meltdown.

....... The reasons offered for the meltdown are manifold; the finger-pointing in the wake of the disaster has been dizzying. But everyone involved seems to own a piece of the problem. Contractors over-promised on performance. HHSC rushed to meet deadlines before people and systems were in place and ready to work. Hundreds of state workers experienced in the complex application and eligibility process were either terminated or left state service knowing that privatization was coming. Old and new computer systems didn't mesh, requiring vast amounts of information to be re-entered manually.

Posted by Info Center at 2:55 PM in Horror Stories | Social Services | Permalink

Source: Neal McNamara, Herald Bulletin (IN), September 26, 2007

Five hundred in Daleville. Some 600 to 700 in Muncie. More than 2,000 in Fishers and Castleton. And now 500 in Anderson.

With companies like IBM, Sallie Mae and now Affiliated Computer Services, call centers seem to be de rigeur in Madison and its contiguous counties.

...... But companies like IBM and Affiliated have a larger stake in the state than most companies. IBM, with help from Affiliated and other companies, is overseeing the privatization of the state's welfare system, a Mitch Daniels initiative. Daniels asked companies interested in the privatization to create jobs for state residents. The call center in Daleville, and the one planned for Anderson, are part of that.

Posted by Info Center at 10:40 AM in Social Services | Permalink

Source: Janet Elliott, San Antonio Express (TX), 09/21/2007 10:56 PM CDT

Texas is still struggling with slow processing times for social service benefits and overburdened phone lines as it unwinds a failed privatization contract, health and human services officials said at a public hearing Friday.

They outlined plans for several smaller private contracts in the coming three years as the state continues transitioning to call centers where people apply over the phone for a host of state and federal benefits.

But state employees criticized the plan, saying it would be better to hire more state workers for local offices where people apply for benefits in person.

....... The Texas Health and Human Services Commission is developing the next steps in the transition to a new eligibility system. In March the state ended a troubled contract with Accenture, an outsourcing company the state had hired in 2005 to operate call centers and process applications for the Children's Health Insurance Program.

Posted by Info Center at 1:46 PM in Horror Stories | Social Services | Permalink

Source: Kim Kozlowski, The Detroit News (MI), Friday, September 21, 2007

The unions representing Wayne County Friend of the Court employees are making legal moves this week to halt privatization of the state's largest court, which enforces $313.7 million in child support collections.

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Council 25 and three locals, on Wednesday filed an unfair labor practice complaint against the Friend of the Court with the Michigan Employment Relations Commission.

The complaint alleges the administration went behind the union's back during recent contract negotiations when it launched an effort to privatize most of the court's operations.

Posted by Info Center at 1:46 PM in Laws/Legislation | Social Services | Permalink

Source: AFSCME Council 25 News Release, September 19, 2007

Albert Garrett, President of Michigan Council 25 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), AFL-CIO, issued the following statement regarding the proposal to privatize Wayne County Friend of the Court operations:

"AFSCME Locals 409, 1905 and 3309, all representing court employees, and all affiliated with Michigan AFSCME Council 25 will conduct informational picketing at the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center, Woodward and Jefferson in Detroit, from 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM on Wednesday, September 19, 2007," stated Garrett.

"We are protesting the planned privatization of the Wayne County Friend of the Court," continued Garrett. "Despite public opposition to the idea, Chief Judge Mary Beth Kelly has issued a Request for Proposals (RFP), and has posted the RFP on the court's website at https://www.3rdcc.org/rfp/rfp.pdf. The RFP actually calls for staffing at 133 percent of current levels. This is a clear indication that the plan will slash the wages and benefits of the workers involved, and will produce a spurious, apples-and-oranges comparison of the work accomplished by the public workers now staffing Friend of the Court, and the performance of the contractor."

Posted by Info Center at 3:20 PM in Social Services | Permalink

Source: By SCOTT WILLIAMS, Journal Sentinel (WI), Sept. 18, 2007

Seeking to trim the size of government, Waukesha County Executive Dan Vrakas is proposing to privatize part of the county's child-support collection program.

Vrakas said his 2008 county budget proposal will include a plan for hiring an outside contractor to handle all incoming calls from parents, employers and other program users.

....... As an experiment, the county tried outsourcing the telephone call center this summer to Affiliated Computer Services Inc., the same firm that handles the state's child-support calls.

County staffers now handle up to 2,000 calls a month, or about 100 a day.

Posted by Info Center at 2:42 PM in Social Services | Permalink

Source: By Louis Porter, Rutland Herald (VT), September 13, 2007

MONTPELIER -- State officials and advocates are worried a provision in this year's national farm bill could, if it becomes law, make it more difficult for some Vermonters to get the food stamps they need and are qualified for. A provision in the U.S. House-passed version of the bill was apparently included to limit the ability of states to privatize the administration of food stamp programs that provide grocery assistance to the poor.

...... Nationally, unions of government workers have pushed for the provision, partly in response to problems in states that have privatized their food stamp programs, in some cases with poor results, according to officials and news reports.

Posted by Info Center at 10:48 AM in Federal | Social Services | Permalink

Source BizJournals, September 12, 2007

The Hawaii Department of Human Services has extended its contract with Affiliated Computer Services Inc. to provide information technology and claims-management services for the state's Medicaid program.

The six-month contract extension is worth $6.4 million.

Posted by Info Center at 10:18 AM in Health | Information Technology | Social Services | Permalink

Source: Ken Dilanian, USA TODAY, September 10, 2007

In December, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels sidestepped opposition from unions and Democrats when he signed a deal outsourcing the administration of his state's welfare and food stamp programs to a consortium led by IBM. For organized labor, the fight didn't end there.

In December, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels sidestepped opposition from unions and Democrats when he signed a deal outsourcing the administration of his state's welfare and food stamp programs to a consortium led by IBM. For organized labor, the fight didn't end there.

........... Daniels, a Republican who was President Bush's budget director, argued the privatization would improve services and save state taxpayers up to $1 billion over a decade. The union and other groups said it would hurt beneficiaries.

In June, at the urging of AFSCME and other groups, Democrats on the House Agriculture Committee voted to place a provision in the farm bill barring states from outsourcing the administration of food stamp programs.

Posted by Info Center at 3:09 PM in Social Services | Permalink

Source: InsideINdianaBusiness.com Report, September 7, 2007

The Indiana Family and Social Services Administration (FSSA) has issued a direct response to a mass e-mail sent to employees' work e-mail addresses, saying any response would violate state guidelines. The mass e-mail was sent September 4 by advocate and former state employee Beryl Cohen, asking workers to report on the transition to privately-run state eligibility services.

Cohen said the reports could be made anonymously at http://www.concerned citizens.org. [Ed note - that website it invalid, they may mean: http://www.concernedhoosiers.org/] In her response, FSSA General Counsel Jessaca Turner-Stults says any response would be an inappropriate use of state resources.

Posted by Info Center at 10:52 AM in Social Services | Permalink

Source: BY JACK KRESNAK, Detroit FREE PRESS (MI), September 7, 2007

Wayne County's chief circuit judge today will announce a plan to privatize most of the county's Friend of the Court system, which handles more than 20% of Michigan's child-support payments and has been criticized as inefficient, overburdened and mistake-prone.

Chief Judge Mary Beth Kelly said the company that wins the bid to run the $28-million-a-year operation would be required to hire the 169 Friend of the Court employees affected by the change as well as to increase staffing by 33% in the first year.

....... The plan is certain to face stiff opposition from Council 25 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), which represents the 169 Friend of the Court workers. AFSCME's contract with the county expired Sept. 1.

Posted by Info Center at 10:47 AM in Social Services | Permalink

Source: JONATHAN WALTERS, Governing, September 20007

The current state penchant for contracting out social services -- a subject I discuss at length elsewhere in this issue -- is part of a larger privatization question that may turn out to have a profound impact on federal-state relations in a variety of significant program and policy areas. Sometimes known as the "yellow pages" approach to government, the privatization push at the state level operates on the premise that if the public sector is providing some service that's offered in the phone book by a private company, then that service is a potential candidate for contracting out.

......... Language in the recently passed House farm bill, for example, specifically delegates to public employees the job of determining eligibility for food stamps, language clearly designed to preempt any state's inclination to turn that job over to the private sector.

Posted by Info Center at 1:54 PM in Federal | Social Services | Permalink

By JONATHAN WALTERS, Governing, September 20007

....... While Texas has made a name for itself as a ringing example of how NOT to go about the job of streamlining access to social and health services, the state is hardly alone in its attempts to make progress toward that goal. In fact, during the past few years, dozens of states have been working on a variety of ways to do social and health services intake and screening more efficiently -- and, it should be said, more humanely.

....... The Indiana experiment is being piloted now and is due to roll out completely next year. The state expects to save in the neighborhood of $500 million over the life of the 10-year contract. But an interesting milestone will come much sooner, when the IBM commitment to state-based pay and benefits runs out, notes Celia Hagert, senior policy analyst with the Center for Public Policy Priorities in Austin, who was invited to Indianapolis to debrief state officials on the Texas mess. If IBM cuts pay and benefits after two years, seasoned staff may decide to quit and go elsewhere.

Posted by Info Center at 1:51 PM in Social Services | Permalink

Source: By ROBERT T. GARRETT, The Dallas Morning News (TX), Thursday, August 30, 2007

The state has suspended placements of foster children with most foster parents recruited by Lutheran Social Services of the South Inc. in North Texas and Central Texas, citing "serious incidents" in four homes last spring.

...... State spokesman Darrell Azar said the state this summer has closely scrutinized Lutheran - an Austin-based child-placing agency managing 660 foster homes, more than any other contractor in Texas - because of insights gained from difficulties with another private agency, now-defunct Mesa Family Services of Harker Heights.

Posted by Info Center at 10:08 AM in Nonprofits | Social Services | Permalink

Source: BILL DRIES, The Memphis Daily News (TN), August 29, 2007

Shelby County Commissioners Monday approved a contract with Porter-LeathChildren's Center to provide Head Start services to 460 children.

........ The contract, authorized by an earlier County Commission and negotiated by County Mayor A C Wharton Jr., met fierce resistance from the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), the union that represents county employees who work at the Head Start centers now operated by county government. Those centers care for nearly 3,200 children.

....... Commissioner Mike Carpenter said the compromise "stinks."

"Shelby County Head Start is in good shape. That's not the argument here," he said, pointing out figures from the National Head Start Association that show only 6 percent of the country's Head Start programs are run by local governments. Most are run by non-profits similar to Porter-Leath.

Posted by Info Center at 10:27 AM in Child Care | Nonprofits | Social Services | Permalink

Source: THE ASSOCIATED PRESS (IN), August 15, 2007

The state's steps to fix the rollout of its plan to have private vendors help in delivering welfare benefits to the needy has won approval from the federal food stamp program.

...... Holden had warned Roob in July that the state's program to have a team of companies led by IBM Corp. and Affiliated Computer Services Inc. process applications for benefits had broken federal food stamp rules in some cases because they bypassed state employees.

In response to the warning, FSSA ordered more training for its employees, began requiring case workers and their supervisors to use a checklist during interviews with benefit applicants, and ordered supervisors to observe case workers while they conducted interviews.

Posted by Info Center at 11:10 AM in Federal | Social Services | Permalink

Source: BY GARY FINEOUT, Miami Herald (FL), Thu, Aug. 09, 2007

The agency responsible for helping Florida's disabled residents has come up with a novel way to cut its budget: Hire more state workers and fire the private companies that now do the work.

If the proposal is accepted by the state Legislature, it would represent a startling turnaround from the eight years under former Gov. Jeb Bush, who cut thousands of state jobs and handed the work to private vendors.

Officials with the Agency for Persons with Disabilities say that hiring state employees would in fact, save the state money.

Posted by Info Center at 11:50 AM in Publicization | Social Services | Permalink

Source: Tom Walker/Eyewitness News, WTHR (IN), Aug 7, 2007 05:23 PM

Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels wants to privatize part of the state welfare system, but his opponents are vowing to go all the way to the top to stop him.

....... Now a bill in Congress may force Indiana to back out of a $1 billion contract to screen Hoosiers seeking welfare. One of the largest public employee unions says that only shows what a bad deal it is. "If in fact that's true that it's gonna cost the state of Indiana $60 to $125 million to get out of a contract that's not working, then that seems to me a prime example of a government getting fleeced by a private contractor," said Kerry Korpi, AFSCME.

Posted by Info Center at 11:33 AM in Federal | Social Services | Permalink
Tags: Indiana

Source: By Tim Evans, Indianapolis Star (IN), August 7, 2007

State officials are turning to Indiana's two U.S. senators to help eliminate a potential federal roadblock to a $1 billion welfare privatization project, Family and Social Services Administration Secretary Mitch Roob said Monday.

The impediment -- a restriction on how food stamp applications are handled -- is included in a farm bill passed last month by the House.

...... Andy Fisher, spokesman for Republican Sen. Richard Lugar, said the House version of the bill already faces many other challenges in the Senate and is unlikely to pass as written. President Bush has indicated he would veto the House version.

Posted by Info Center at 10:07 AM in Federal | Laws/Legislation | Social Services | Permalink

Source: By MELANIE AVE, St Petersburg Times (FL), August 3, 2007

Two state Democratic lawmakers asked for a legislative review of Florida's public-private child welfare system Thursday, on the heels of several high-profile debacles involving dead, raped and missing children under the state's care.

……. Lawmaker input is needed to help clarify the murky relationship between DCF and its subcontractors, the private agencies responsible for foster children in the state's 67 counties, said Andrea Moore, director of the advocacy group Florida's Children First.

Posted by Info Center at 1:50 PM in Social Services | Permalink

Source: Elizabeth Pierson Hernandez, The Monitor (TX), July 31, 2007 - 8:40PM

The state paid more than $53 million in questionable claims to the insurance company that administered the Children’s Health Insurance Program to rural Texans for four years, according to a private audit.

The audit report, obtained by Valley Freedom Newspapers on Tuesday, raises new concerns about the contract between the Texas Health and Human Services Commission and Clarendon National Insurance Co., which has been the subject of scrutiny for at least three years.

The audit found the company may have overcharged the state by as much as 37.66 percent between 2000 and 2004.

...... The report is particularly troublesome considering other problematic contracts the state health commission has entered into in recent years, including the nearly $900 million contract with Accenture that was canceled earlier this year, she said.

Posted by Info Center at 10:08 AM in Health | Horror Stories | Social Services | Permalink

Source: By Maureen Groppe and Karen Eschbacher, Indianapolis Star, July 28, 2007

The House passed a farm, nutrition and energy bill Friday that would force Indiana to undo its private contract for screening food stamp applicants. "We feel it is fundamentally unfair," Mitch Roob, secretary of Indiana's Family and Social Services Administration, said of a provision in the bill that would bar states from hiring private contractors to screen food stamp applicants.

……. Lettie Oliver, associate director of Council 62 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, said Friday's action was a step in the right direction because it would return the running of Indiana's welfare system to state employees. Oliver said privatizing welfare erodes transparency and accountability because a private company doesn't have to answer to the public the way the government does.

Posted by Info Center at 2:59 PM in Federal | Laws/Legislation | Social Services | Permalink

Source: Lori Holcomb, The Battle Creek Enquirer (MI), July 28, 2007

....... A new bill before the state Senate that would privatize 20 percent more of Michigan's foster care system has parents like the Tomkys worried that foster kids' well-being will be jeopardized. "I think it's a disaster," Tomky said.

Posted by Info Center at 1:13 PM in Laws/Legislation | Social Services | Permalink

Source: Waco Tribune (TX), Thursday, July 26, 2007

Back when Ronald Reagan could get taxpayers frothy over tales of “welfare Cadillacs,” the real scandal they didn’t hear about until too late was corporate welfare.

……. In Texas, lawmakers went to great lengths this session to make sure working-poor families don’t con Texas by exceeding income limits for the doctors’ visits and flu shots made possible by the Children’s Health Insurance Program. Fire up your ire, boys. Where was the umbrage four years ago when, with thousands of children being dropped from CHIP, auditors found that the state had overpaid a vendor $20 million for administering the program, including millions for individual consultants? But, you see, that’s just the cost of privatizing government.

Posted by Info Center at 12:00 PM in Horror Stories | Social Services | Permalink

Source: By KEITH ROYSDON, Muncie Star Press (IN), July 27, 2007

MUNCIE -- Hundreds of jobs at a planned IBM call center in Daleville could be lost if Congress passes the 2007 farm bill with language to limit the privatization of state welfare functions, Rep. Mike Pence said Thursday.

The farm bill -- which could come to a House vote before noon today -- has a provision that prohibits states from entering into contracts to privatize some welfare programs, Pence said.

....... The bill's provisions would "mandate that only state employees deal with food-stamp applicants and determine their eligibility," Gannett News Service reported. "It would also prevent states from using federal funds to cancel the private contracts they'd no longer be able to have."

Posted by Info Center at 11:50 AM in Federal | Social Services | Permalink

Source: Associated Press (IN), Friday, Jul 20, 2007

A provision in the federal farm bill moving through Congress would force Indiana to cancel its $1.16 billion deal to privatize parts of its welfare system and force rollbacks of some of the child protection gains the state has made, top aides to Gov. Mitch Daniels said Thursday.

……. The provision also would affect food stamp operations that have been privatized to varying degrees in 21 other states, plus five other states where such contracts are being considered, according to the National Governors Association, which is lobbying to defeat the provision. However, a coalition of unions, anti-hunger groups and social services agencies have aligned themselves behind the language, saying in a letter to members of Congress that it's aimed at guarding the integrity of the food stamp program “and ensure and fair and equal access and treatment for all applicants.”

Related article from the Indianapolis Star: State welfare revamp at risk

Posted by Info Center at 10:22 AM in Federal | Social Services | Permalink

Source: By ROBERT T. GARRETT, The Dallas Morning News (TX), Thursday, July 19, 2007

Texas' efforts to hand off social services duties to private companies have enriched lobbyists while hurting poor people and wasting tax dollars, a watchdog group said Wednesday. Over the past decade, 13 companies ultimately hired by the state after four big pushes toward privatization paid 102 lobbyists between $4.5 million and $11.3 million, according to a report by Texans for Public Justice.

Posted by Info Center at 10:49 AM in Social Services | Permalink

Source: Associated Press (IN), July 19, 2007

Federal official says Indiana broke the law by failing to interview all those who applied Indiana's rollout of its privatized welfare program has broken federal food stamp rules in some cases by bypassing state employees, and a key official on Wednesday ordered steps including more training for state workers.

……… Indiana risks losing millions of dollars in federal money if it does not fix the problem. The letter from Ollice Holden, regional administrator for the U.S. Food and Nutrition Service, gave FSSA 15 days to submit a plan to fix it.

Posted by Info Center at 10:47 AM in Federal | Horror Stories | Social Services | Permalink

Source: Crystal Collins-Camargo, State News, January 2007, Vol. 50 no. 1

The National Quality Improvement Center on the Privatization of Child Welfare Services (QIC PWC) will be administering research grants in January or February 2007 to test innovative strategies for implementing performance-based contracting and quality improvement systems in the private sector.

Posted by Info Center at 10:36 AM in Social Services | Permalink

Source: Dave Mann, The Texas Observer, Vol. 99 no. 7, April 6, 2007

In a misguided, poorly executed effort to let the private sector bring “efficiency” to Texas government, the state has squandered at least $100 million, cheated hundreds of thousands of needy Texans out of benefits, and now risks millions of dollars in federal fines for botching things up so badly.

Posted by Info Center at 10:28 AM in Horror Stories | Social Services | Permalink

Source: By Jim McTague, Barron's (subscription req.), 16 July 2007

Big labor and its democratic allies on Capitol Hill have failed twice in recent months to overcome GOP opposition to pro-union legislation. The third time may be the charm. There's a major pro-union provision in the farm bill that will be marked up this week by the House Agricultural Committee.

It is tailored to kill Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels' $1.6 billion food-stamp/welfare outsourcing contract with International Business Machines, an arrangement that the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees says is being championed by right-wing ideologues at the expense of the needy.

The impact would be felt beyond Indiana. If Afscme and its allies, which include farm groups and nutrition advocates, are successful, that would throw a wet blanket on new outsourcing projects in other states.

Posted by Info Center at 11:10 AM in Information Technology | Laws/Legislation | Social Services | Permalink

Source: By Paul McDougall, InformationWeek, July 6, 2007 02:20 PM

Outsourcer Affiliated Computer(ACS) Services has agreed to pay more than $2.6 million to settle charges it over billed the federal government for business services. Under a deal disclosed earlier this week by the office of U.S. Attorney Richard Roper, ACS will pay $2.65 million to the U.S. government to resolve charges under the False Claims Act.

The federal government alleged that ACS employees submitted a number of fake claims for payment from 2002 to 2005 for work related to outsourcing contracts funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Department of Labor, and the Administration for Children and Families at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

....... In a statement released Tuesday, Roper's office said ACS voluntarily reported that some of its employees were inflating the number of enrollees in order to boost revenue from the program.

Posted by Info Center at 3:13 PM in Horror Stories | Social Services | Permalink

Source: Associated Press (IN), July 2, 2007 06:58 AM

Internal and federal reports on the state's privatization of welfare eligibility note problems with staffing, large caseloads, delays in processing applications for benefits and other issues. State human services chief Mitch Roob said most of the problems are not new and have long plagued the state's application process for the food stamps, Medicaid and other benefits received by 1.1 million people.

……. A spokesman for the union that represented that the caseworkers when they were employed by the state cited a section of the federal report saying welfare clients wanted to talk to their former state caseworkers or to learn who their new private caseworkers were. "People want a caseworker they can call their own. They want face time," said Dave Patterson of Council 62 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.

Posted by Info Center at 11:01 AM in Social Services | Permalink

Source: By STEVE SCHULTZE, Journal Sentinel (WI), June 20, 2007

Wisconsin officials have improperly denied benefits to W-2 applicants who are unemployed but considered capable of working, a state Court of Appeals panel ruled (.pdf) Tuesday. The 2-1 ruling from the Milwaukee appeals court branch found that the state's creation of a "job ready" category and subsequent denial of cash assistance to those clients of the Wisconsin Works welfare reform program were at odds with the 1996 law.

……. The ruling came in the cases of two Milwaukee women, Yolanda Weston and Sherrieck Nelson, who sought help from W-2 in 2005. Both had held jobs before, but were unemployed and unable to find work. Both had children and were broke when they sought help from Milwaukee W-2 agencies Maximus Inc. and the YWCA.

....... Even though the state officially enrolls relatively few "job ready" people in the program, many more are discouraged from completing W-2 applications because they've been told they seemed to be capable of working and would likely be denied benefits, DeLessio said. She and other advocates have accused Gov. Jim Doyle's administration of using that tactic to trim the W-2 rolls.

Posted by Info Center at 10:21 AM in Laws/Legislation | Social Services | Permalink

Source: By Alex Nixon, Kalamazoo Gazette (MI), Tuesday, June 12, 2007

More of the state's child and family services would be handled by private, nonprofit organizations under a proposal before Lansing lawmakers.

Proponents say the measure could save $19 million from next year's Michigan Department of Human Services budget, which is expected to be more than $4.51 billion.

Posted by Info Center at 1:19 PM in Laws/Legislation | Nonprofits | Social Services | Permalink

Source: Governing Magazine, May 2007

A privatization program unravels in its first year and raises questions about how it could go so far south so fast.

Everything went wrong: Calls were dropped and applications lost. Unwarranted layoffs were followed by panicked retention maneuvers. Misinformation was magnified by bureaucratic goofs. However one measures failure, Texas bungled its recent attempt to privatize the operation of four major programs administered by its Health and Human Services Commission--a $900 million deal.

Posted by Info Center at 3:23 PM in Horror Stories | Social Services | Permalink

Source: The Associated Press (TX), May 23, 2007, 5:53PM

The House gave final approval Wednesday to a measure that would strengthen protection of foster children and repeal much of the foster care privatization lawmakers ordered last session. The legislation calls for annual inspections of foster homes.

Posted by Info Center at 10:30 AM in Laws/Legislation | Social Services | Permalink

Source: By ROBERT T. GARRETT, The Dallas Morning News (TX), Tuesday, May 22, 2007

A bill that would strengthen protection of foster children – and roll back almost all of the privatization of foster care lawmakers ordered last session – was endorsed by the House on Monday.

…… News reports about the beating deaths of three foster children in North Texas since August 2005 have revealed spotty state oversight of foster care contractors and state officials' lack of information about Texas' nearly 10,000 foster homes.

Posted by Info Center at 11:14 AM in Laws/Legislation | Oversight/Contract Management | Social Services | Permalink

Source: South Bend Tribune (IN), March 27. 2007 6:59AM

Go ahead, call us skeptical. It has been made very clear in this space that we have deep and abiding concerns about statewide privatization of the delivery of welfare services to 1.1 million needy Hoosiers.

It would have been reassuring, as the privatization contract with a consortium of IBM and Affiliated Computer Services was negotiated, if Gov. Mitch Daniels had permitted the Indiana General Assembly an oversight role. But the governor took it upon himself to enter into the $1.16 billion, 10-year deal between the state Family and Social Services Administration and the IBM-ACS group.

FSSA Secretary Mitch Roob was a vice president of ACS prior to coming to work for Daniels.

Posted by Info Center at 11:17 AM in Social Services | Permalink

Source: By ROBERT T. GARRETT, The Dallas Morning News (TX), Monday, March 19, 2007

A state effort to replace many welfare benefits offices with privately run call centers fell victim to unrealistic deadlines, budget cuts, stumbles by the contractor, a flawed public education campaign and mishaps with government-purchased computer software.

…… Accenture executive Dave McCurley testified to a House committee last month that software-related "inefficiencies" and an unexpectedly high number of calls pouring into the call centers early last year "combined to effectively break the camel's back."

…… Alec Davis, a state employee who has been an eligibility screener for 14 years and works at an Austin call center, said he has seen private contractor employees make less than conscientious efforts to help aid applicants. ….. "The job done over the years by the state workers has been a lot better than they give us credit for," he said.

Posted by Info Center at 10:40 AM in Horror Stories | Social Services | Permalink

Source: By KEN KUSMER, The Associated Press (IN), 03-15-07 8:24 PM EST

Federal officials are tightening their oversight of Indiana's experiment in privatizing much of its welfare safety net, requesting that the state provide monthly reports on how many food stamp applications it approves. The U.S. Agriculture Department's Food and Nutrition Service also will send representatives to Indiana next month to observe firsthand the state's outsourcing to an IBM Corp.-led team of the eligibility determination for food stamps and other benefits received by 1.1 million people.

Posted by Info Center at 10:28 AM in Social Services | Permalink

Source: KEN KUSMER, Associated Press (IN), March 18, 2007

The outsourcing of much of Indiana's welfare safety net reaches a key milestone Monday when more than 1,500 workers leave their state jobs to join a group of private vendors with a 10-year contract designed to streamline the way people receive benefits. Those former employees of the Family and Social Services Administration still will help people apply for and continue receiving food stamps, Medicaid and other aid, but not as state case workers. They'll now be employees of Dallas-based Affiliated Computer Services Inc., a partner in the IBM Corp.-led group calling itself the Hoosier Coalition for Self Sufficiency.

…… Dave Warrick, executive director of Council 62 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, also said that many departing FSSA employees have little confidence that the new system will adequately take care of clients. "They don't see how the structure that they're creating is going to work," Warrick said. "There's a lot of worry."

Posted by Info Center at 10:27 AM in Social Services | Permalink