Another TIERS software screwup

Another day, another screwup in the privatization of the Texas Health and Human Services Commission.

Glitches in the state's new computer system have left investigators unable to check for fraud and overpayments in food-stamp and other benefit programs in the two counties where it is being used, according to an audit released Thursday.

The Office of Inspector General at the Health and Human Services Commission has been unable to investigate benefits cases processed through the privately run integrated eligibility call centers that screen needy Texans for a variety of public assistance programs.

The program is known as Texas Integrated Eligibility Redesign System. It is billed on the commission's Web site as "cutting-edge technology" that would better match consumer needs with state programs and reduce fraud.

[...]

The State Auditor's Office said that inspectors have been unable to pursue criminal cases for the past two years because of insufficient data coming from the call centers. It stopped looking for fraud last April because information was not "readily accessible," the report said.

"Furthermore, TIERS lacks interfaces to the automated systems at the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, U.S. Social Security Administration, and the Texas Workforce Commission" that are necessary to identify potential fraud, the audit added.

[...]

[HHSC spokeswoman Stephanie] Goodman said the problem identified by the audit relates to data interfaces between TIERS and the systems used by the inspector general's office.

The interfaces are expected to be resolved by September 2007.

In the interim, the commission's computer staff is extracting data that should enable investigators to pursue cases in which overpayments may have been made, Goodman said.

The Republican leadership of Texas have, through their actions, demonstrated their indifference to the question of whether or not the people who depend on public assistance are able to get it. If anything will spur them to action on the failings of Accenture and TIERS, it'll be this - the nagging doubt that somehow, somewhere, someone is receiving a benefit he or she is not entitled to. I predict this gets more fully addressed well before September of 2007.

Posted by Charles Kuffner on November 19, 2006 to Budget ballyhoo | TrackBack