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Home My WebLink AboutMINUTES - 10282003 - SD3 Contra TO: BOARD OF SUPERVISORS FROM: INTERNAL OPERATIONS COMMITTEE "y Costa DATE: OCTOBER 20, 2003 ' `co County SUBJECT: FOOD STAMP ERROR RATE UPDATE SPECIFIC REQUEST(S)OR RECOMMENDATION(S)&BACKGROUND AND JUSTIFICATION RECOMMENDATIONS 1. ACCEPT attached report from the Employment and Human Services Director providing an update on the statewide and county food stamp error problem, and describing the Department's progress in lowering the County's error rate. 2. ACKNOWLEDGE that as a result of corrective strategies implemented by the Department, the food stamp error rate for the first eight months of federal fiscal year 2003 (October 2002 through May 2003) is 5.54%, a 60% improvement over the 13.99% rate that earned this County a federal sanction. 3. COMMEND the Employment and Human Services Director on the success to date of the corrective action plan. 4. RECOGNIZE that the federal government has informed the State of California that it will not grant the requested indemnification from quality control reviews and potential fiscal penalties during California's transition to the Quarterly Status Reporting/Prospective Budgeting cycle and the'CALWIN system. 5. RECOGNIZE that"reinvestment"funds (that is, the fiscal penalties that this County was permitted by the federal government to reinvest in food stamp error reduction strategies)will become exhausted before the end of County fiscal year 2004/05 and that the error reduction strategies supported by reinvestment funds will need to be sustained in future years to assure high quality program administration and avoid potential fiscal sanctions. 6. DIRECT the Employee and Human Services Director to report back to the Internal Operations Committee in March 2004 at which time the following shall be addressed: ♦ The Federal, State, and County food stamp error rate for federal fiscal year ending September 30, 2003 Strategies employed to avoid the June "spike"trend in food stamp issuance errors ♦ Any software or technological tools to which one-time reinvestment funds might be applied to provide sustained effort in promoting error-free food stamp issuance ♦ Guidance on 2004/05 budget planning related to sustaining the strategies employed to reduced food stamp eligibility and issuance errors ♦ Other significant related issues that may develop, CONTINUED ON ATTACHMENT: YES SIGNATUR --- ---------------------._------------------------ ------------------------------------------------- - s = ,d" °Zt? -------- RECOMMENDATION OF COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR z } ECOMME ION OF BOARD COMMITTEE APPROVE OTHER SIGNATURES ' x7 GAYLE B. ILKEMA, CHAIR FEDERAL D. GLOVER --------------------- - -IV - - ------ OF BOARD ON ------------------------------------------ ACTION � ,�APPROVE AS RECOMMENDED R VOTE OF SUPERVISORS I HERESY CERTIFY THAT THIS IS A TRUE AND CORRECT COPY OF AN ACTION TAKEN AND ENTERED UNANIMOUS(ASSENT ON THE MINUTES OF THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS ON THE DATE SHOWN AYES: NOES: ATTESTED: OCTOBER 28,2003 ABSENT: ABSTAIN: JOHN SWEETEN,CLERK OF THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS AND COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR CONTACT: JULIE ENEA(925)335-1077 BY - �3. �r'�/ , DEPUTY CC: INTERNAL OPERATIONS COMMITTEE STAFF EMPLOYMENT&HUMAN SERVICES DIRECTOR COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR ,,mid Ka Food Stamp Error Rate October 20, 2003 Internal Operations Committee Page 2 BACKGROUND On February 5, 2002, the Board of Supervisors received a letter from the State Department of Health and Human Services appealing to the Board to make a strong commitment to improving California's overall performance in administering the Food Stamp Program. The letter indicated that Contra Costa County's error rate for 2001 was expected to be above the federal tolerance level for Food Stamp Program errors. To affirm the Board's commitment to improving overall performance, the Board, on May 21, 2002 directed the Internal Operations Committee (IOC) to review the County's Food Stamp Program performance with the Employment and Human Services Department (EHSD), and oversee the preparation of the Corrective Action Plan. The IOC has continued to monitor the food stamp error rate with EHSD, and has reported to the Board of Supervisors with updates on June 25, 2002 and January 7, 2003. The reports described the corrective actions planned and implemented by EHSD and indicated a steady improvement in the County's error rate. The EHSD Director clarified early on that the error rate was primarily related to worker errors in determining eligibility, and not to worker or client fraud in either eligibility determination or benefits issuance. We are pleased to be able to report to you that the corrective strategies implemented by EHSD have resulted in a 60% reduction in the County's food stamp error rate based on the first eight months of federal fiscal year 2003 (October 2002 through May 2003). The current error rate of 5.54% is below the current federal tolerance level, demonstrating that EHSD is effectively addressing the challenge of reducing the error rate in a responsible fashion. The attached charts depict long-term experience in the County, State, and Federal error rates, and monthly experience since January 2000 in the County's error rates. We noted the wide variation in error rates from month to month, which we understand are attributable to the random sampling of cases each month. One discernable trend is a consistent spike in the error rate during the month of June. We are recommending that the Department analyze the June spikes and develop specific strategies to address the causes. In addition, our Committee continues to be concerned about pending events that may negatively impact error rates: ♦ Exhaustion of reinvestment funds to maintain error reduction efforts ♦ Conversion from monthly to quarterly status reports ♦ Conversion to the new Quarterly Status Reporting/Prospective Budgeting cycle Implementation of the new CaIWIN welfare payment and tracking system originally scheduled for a November 2004 implementation but now delayed to some time in 2005* For these reasons, the IOC recommends that this issue be kept on referral and that the Employment and Human Services Director be directed to report back to the IOC in March 2004 to provide an update as specified in our recommendations. *The United Stales Department of Agriculture — Food and Nutrition Service, the oversight agency for food stamps, has informed the State of California that it will not grant the requested indemnification from quality control reviews and potential fiscal penalties during California's transition to the Quarterly Status PeportinglProspective Budgeting cycles and the CaIWIN systems. EMPLOYMENT AND HUMAN SERVICES CONTRA COSTA COUNTY DATE October 13, 2003 TO Supervisor Federal Glover Supervisor Gayle B. Uilkema Internal Operations Committee FROM John B. Cullen, Director SUBJECT Food Stamp Error Rate Recommendations ACCEPT the report presented by the EHSD Director on the status of efforts to impact the Food Stamp error rate, z REPORT OUT to the Board of Supervisors that progress is being made in this area, KEEP this item on referral to Internal Operations for another update in March 2004. Current Status/Results This report is in follow-up to our July 2003 presentation on the Food Stamp Error Rate. The Committee asked that we return at this time to provide an update on our corrective action activities and the results in lowering the error rate for the most recent Federal reporting period, October 2002 to the present. To date, Employment and Human Services Department's (EHSD) cumulative Food Stamp error rate for the first eight months of FFY 2003 is at 5.54%, a very significant 60% reduction from 13.99% at the end of FFY 2001, and a reduction of 48% from 10.56% at the end of FFY 2002, See Attachments 1 and 2. We are seeing many indications of our success at making Food Stamp eligibility and Cor- rective Action a priority to staff that are responsible for the Program. Although the final error rate for FFY 2003 will not be known until early in 2004 (February or March), EHSD is confident that it will be under the tolerance level set by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service (FNS). There is a distinct possibility that the threat of future fiscal sanctions Internal Operations Committee Food Stamp Error Rate October 13, 2003 Page 2 of 5 might be eliminated if our County and the other previously sanctioned California counties continue to maintain this level of improvement. Background in Errors and Corrective Action It is our belief that a variety of factors have contributed to this Food Stamp error rate problem as noted in our previous reports dated .Tune 10, 2002, December 6, 2002 and July 21,2003: ■ Line staff has a broad responsibility for CalWORKs, Medi-Cal and Food Stamps and all support services (transportation, child care; housing, etc.) for their assigned families. • Over the past five years, the national, state and local focus has been on the implementation of the Welfare to Work program with its emphasis on em- ployment, rather than Food Stamp eligibility determination. ■ Transfer of experienced staff from Non—Assistance Food Stamps and Medi- Cal assignments to the more rewarding CalWORKs assignments has re- sulted in predominantly less experienced staff responsible for benefit de- termination programs. ■ Growing complexity and regular changes in the Food Stamps Program rules and regulations have made it difficult to keep staff trained as well as rou- tinely identify and correct payment errors. • State budget reductions in the past two fiscal years has reduced state fund- ing for CalWORKs and Medi-Cal staffing. This has forced larger work- loads in these areas, further eroding worker time available to Food Stamps program management. An overhaul of the administration of the Food Stamp program has produced posi- tive results. We have developed a comprehensive Corrective Action Plan (CAP) that is the blueprint for our error reduction efforts and which builds upon efforts identified in the prior year's reports (June 2002, December 2002 and July 2003). ■ Corrective Action activities have been assigned to the East County Opera- tions Division Manager, who also has responsibility for Food Stamps pol- icy. • In order to improve communication and interdepartmental cooperation, the functions of Food Stamps Policy, Quality Control and Corrective Action have been restructured to report to the Food Stamps Program Manager. • A Quality Control Error Citation Workgroup meets monthly to review for- mally identified case errors and to attempt to rebut State-cited errors, Iden- H�\a"essler\BOS\Follow up Report.or 10 Committee 1003.doc Internal Operations Committee Food Stamp Error Rate October 13, 2003 Page 3 of 5 tify causal factors, develop procedures to avoid future errors and to brain- storm creative methods to reduce the error rate. • Senior executive staff meet at least monthly with the Corrective Action Di- vision Manager, Program Analyst, QC Supervisor and other key staff to give overall policy direction and to ensure that the necessary resources are made available for corrective action efforts. • We developed and launched a new, comprehensive 15-module Food Stamp training program for eligibility staff. Training sessions topics have been carefully designed to focus on those program areas we have identified as contributing to our error rate, including determination of income, income and shelter deductions, determination of household composition,. non- citizen eligibility, resource determination and work registration require- ments. ■ From January 2003 through September 30, 2403, EHSD provided 164 hours of food stamp training sessions for eligibility-staff. • Short term, "get the errors down" strategies have been implemented includ- ing Operation Clean Sweep, Hot Topics Focused Reviews, Hot Tip policy clarifications for staff and the issuance of systems ad hoc reports identify- ing potential errors for staff to review and correct. ■ Longer term, "improve the ongoing accuracy" strategies have been devel- oped including: • Implementation of an ongoing process of supervisory reviews to as- sure accuracy and accountability in the Food Stamp Program, Review of a sampling of these oases to guarantee valid reviews have been conducted, Distribution of the resulting accuracy rates to all operational manag- ers and unit supervisors, Ongoing training for line staff, Separate training for supervisors, Development of computer-based Food Stamps training including pre-test and post-test features Creation of Food Stamp policy desk guides At Redesign and revision of the Food Stamp policy handbook. ■ Commencing in. March 2443, all staff and supervisors responsible for Food Stamps were required to take a monthly quiz. This quiz is open book, open resource so workers are able to access their Food Stamp handbook, training materials, Hot Tips and desk guides while taking the test. The results of the quizzes are used to customize training to address problem areas. Addition- ally, the results of the quiz may be used in coaching and counseling ses- sions with poorly performing staff as necessary. H;t5tssfor18C3S!FoSlow up Report for S O Committee 10.01doa Internal Operations Committee Food Stamp Error Rate October 13, 2003 Page 4 of 5 Effective in May 2003, intake supervisors started targeted reviews of Food Stamp cases prior to transferring to the continuing units. These case re- views are subject to a random "re-review" and will become part of the ac- curacy and accountability reports. 0 In October 2003, EHSD will be interviewing for a Program Integrity Coordinator. The person hired for this position will be responsible for monitoring existing Food Stamp corrective action: activities, revising the same as needed and developing and implementing new activities to continually address changing trends in the Food Stamp error rate. Additionally, four(4)Program. Integrity Assistants will be hired in the spring of 2004. The Coordinator will supervise and coordinate the as- signents of the Program Integrity Assistants who will be responsible for targeted reviews of casework accuracy and reviews of supervisory case reviews. Future Impacts Although our efforts to achieve and sustain an error rate that is at or below the Federal tolerance level have been successful, there are several major changes within the next two years that could possibly affect the Food Stamp error ratef In February 2004, EHSD will convert from monthly reporting and retrospective budgeting to Quarterly Status Reports (QSR) and prospective budgeting. Due to the learning curve associated with the implementation of any program change, it is anticipated that there will be an increase in the error rate. FNS has informed the State of California that they will not grant a "hold harmless" period for this pro- gram change. In an attempt to alleviate this possible increase in our error rate, Staff Development will provide overview and QSR training prior to implementa- tion. Additionally, mailers have gone out to clients to advise them of the changes to their reporting responsibilities. Client education sessions will also be offered. EHSD is involved with the design and development of a new welfare payment and tracking system. The system, CalWIN, requires an investment of staff resources as we prepare to changeover to this new system in November 2004. As imple- mentation of CalWIN draws closer, additional staff resources must be dedicated to the conversion. With this change in systems, we are anticipating the potential for an increase in the error rate. EHSD staff is working closely with the California Department of Social Services (CRSS) and FNS to proactively address error prone new systems procedures. In addition, reinvestment funds may not be available in future years to sustain many of the efforts initiated during the past two fiscal years. Reinvestment funds are county dollars that were owed to the Federal government during the past two years as a fiscal sanction for our previously high Food Stamp error rate, but which H:1Sesaker\BOSTottow v keport for 10 Committee 10.01,doc Internal Operations Committee Food Stamp Error Pate October 13, 2003 Page 5 of 5 we were permitted to "reinvest" in corrective action activities. These funds have been a crucial element in funding additional staff positions responsible for various Food Stamp corrective action activities. Program integrity staff being hired during this fiscal year will be paid for with reinvestment funds. Additionally, the over- time for staff and supervisors to complete additional quality control reviews has been financed by reinvestment funds. These efforts will need to be sustained in future years to assure that we have the capability to conduct systematic reviews of supervisory actions, to perform ongoing monitoring of program accuracy, and to provide technical assistance to Food Stamp staff. 1BC:PP:sgb i H::SesslfflBOS\Follow up Report for 10 Committee I0.03.doc �i / / k g r/ fy , 3 +4 jf r f f f',•..i}'%::::'::::::::•::::::::::::;5i::;::5:r:;i{:;::;};;}::::::>i:::;.>::;::;:.;;:.;::»;:.>:.::.;:.;;;;:.:::.;::::-;:::::.::.:.;:.::.::::::;a..........:.::.:.<.:.:;.�:::.� ..I ii:.;: :::.:. ..::::::::.::.:. ,,n..... ........................................................... ..................:::::::::::::::. 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