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Modernization Where we’re heading.... Division of Family Assistance March 17, 2011

Modernization Where we’re heading.... Division of Family Assistance March 17, 2011. DFA Programs. Maslow’s Heirarchy of Needs. DFA provides basic needs: cash, food stamps, medical, and employment help. Caseloads Still Increasing.

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Modernization Where we’re heading.... Division of Family Assistance March 17, 2011

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  1. ModernizationWhere we’re heading....Division of Family AssistanceMarch 17, 2011

  2. DFA Programs Maslow’s Heirarchy of Needs DFA provides basic needs: cash, food stamps, medical, and employment help.

  3. Caseloads Still Increasing Food stamps have increased 22,107 since June 2008. That’s 69%. TANF cases have increased 1,282 since June, 2008. That’s 26%. APTD cases have increased 1,863 since June, 2008. That’s 27%. Food Stamp cases are the canary in the coal mine for the economy. I expect Town Welfare caseloads are the same....

  4. Food Stamp Growth

  5. TANF Growth

  6. APTD Growth

  7. FS to Unemployment

  8. Caseloads have increased, eligibility staff have not. The triple inverse parallel: • The economy goes down. • Caseloads go up. • DFA’s budget to pay for the increased expenses goes down. New Hampshire doesn’t have the resources to keep driving the same old bus. We have to change the bus. The Division of Family Assistance must Modernize!

  9. How People Apply Today In person at 12 district offices across the state. Paper applications by mail. Over the web at community service providers (NH Easy).

  10. How People Will Apply Tomorrow in person by mail internet from home at a provider’s by phone

  11. Tomorrow’s Technology Is Today! For over a year we have trained community service providers to assist people in applying for DFA cash, food stamps and medicaid programs over the web. We continue to do this. However, today just in Laconia we are piloting a version that people can use to apply from home with no assistance. NH EASY is now available on-line from 6:00 AM until Midnight every day. Go tonheasy.nh.gov. New Hampshire EASY This reduces traffic in the district offices. It also provides a virtual presence in every community in New Hampshire for people who can’t travel!

  12. Tomorrow’s Technology Is Today! Food Stamp Screening For everyone! Applicants can now check online to determine if they are likely to be eligible for food stamps. Food Stamp screening is now available on-line from 6:00 AM until Midnight every day. Go tonheasy.nh.gov This saves the time involved with applications that are grossly ineligible!

  13. Tomorrow’s Technology Is Today! Today, clients can go online to see the letters we’ve sent to them. We also post when their redetermination is and whether it’s been scheduled. In March 2011 clients will be able to add-a-program from their account. In April clients will be able to view more case information (status of application, benefits, and so on). For existing clients! User Accounts are now available on-line from 6:00 AM until Midnight every day. Go tonheasy.nh.gov Client User Accounts Soon Town Welfare will not need to phone DFA for verifications. Just have your client access their User Account with you present! This saves both you and us time, allowing us to spend more time making timely decisions!

  14. Tomorrow’s Technology Is Today! E-Mailed Notices Today clients who sign up for a User Account can also sign up to have their notices e-mailed to them. Actually, we don’t e-mail the notice itself. Rather, we e-mail an alert that tells clients to go look at their User Account in order to read their notice. For existing clients! E-Mailed Notices are now available. Go tonheasy.nh.gov Now clients can never lose their notices. This speeds delivery to clients and saves postage costs!

  15. Tomorrow’s Technology Is Today! Moreover, in February, 2011, 6,407 people used their NH EASY accounts. This has already reduced the volume of phone calls to district offices. 457 clients received notices to go look at a letter from us instead of being mailed a letter through the post office. All this in only the second month!

  16. Improved Processes! In tomorrow’s world, clients will apply over the web or the phone, will be interviewed by phone, and will send verifications in by mail to be digitized. Does it make sense for them then to travel to the district office to pick up their cards? No. So last summer we changed the way cards are delivered. Now they are mailed directly to clients’ homes. Clients PIN them over the web or phone. EBT Card Delivery This reduces traffic in the district office, allowing us to spend more time responding to phones calls! It also gives us a completely virtual presence in every community!

  17. Newly Revised EBT Card Issuance and PIN EBT Contractor PIN Numbers Clients PIN cards over the phone or web.

  18. Improved Processes! Paper Redeterminations As you know, DFA not only must act on new applications, but every six months we must redetermine eligibility for most opened cases. This January we received 9,354 applications and conducted another 12,770 redes. Most redes are done by mail. The Department unfroze 5 positions to put in Berlin where they can use digital imaging technology to do 1/3rd of all paper redes, beginning with the busiest offices. This reduces work traffic in the district office, allowing us to spend more time answering phones!

  19. Improved Processes: Trusts! Trusts are one of the most complicated pieces of eligibility for nursing home and home & community based care applications. Attorneys are finding increasingly more complicated ways to hide family assets through legal trusts. Each trust—and these can be thick—must be read carefully. More clients having more complicated trusts meant eligibility was backing up. But we didn’t even know how much of a backlog we had! First, we freed up staff by canceling some obsolete functions. Then we built monitoring controls. Then we re-structured how trusts would be processed. Now we have control and the backlog is gone.

  20. How Initial Eligibility Works: Trusts Central Scanning Unit Client Trusts and disbursements Eligibility Worker electronic inbox Trusts logged in & out @ DFA DFA Trust Reviewer FSS e-mails that the disbursement or trust is online needing review Reviewer e-mails results to Eligibility Worker for case action Disbursements logged in & out @ Estate Recoveries Estate Recoveries Reviewer

  21. District Office Consolidation As you may be aware, both the Governor’s and House Finance Committee budgets include reducing the number of District Offices by four over the next two years. Berlin District Office Littleton District Office Conway District Office Laconia District Office Claremont District Office Rochester District Office Concord District Office Seacoast District Office Keene District Office Manchester District Office Salem District Office Nashua District Office Today Tomorrow

  22. District Office Consolidation • Exact timelines and details are not yet determined. The map on the right shows a rough idea of what the Department is considering. Some early thoughts suggest: • Littleton might downsize its current location while partially merging with Berlin (A). • Keene/Claremont remains under discussion (B). • Salem is already merging with the Southern DO (C). • Concord and Laconia could join together to become Central office (E). • Rochester could merge with the Seacoast Office (F). • Conway might better serve its clientele if located in the Ossipee area where it could pick up some of Rochester and Laconia’s catchment areas and associated staff and become the Eastern Office (G). • DFA will be using all those new technologies we’ve just discussed to keep providing our strongest service in the communities where offices close. All plans are still fluid!

  23. District Office Consolidation

  24. District Office Consolidation

  25. District Office Consolidation

  26. District Office Consolidation Salem Closure The last day Salem District Office will be open is Monday, April 25, 2011. Communities formerly served out of the Salem office will now be served by: Southern Regional Office 3 Pine Street Extension, Suite Q Nashua NH 03060-3275 Phone (603) 883-7726 or 1-800-852-0632 TDD Relay 1-800-735-2964 or 7-1-1 Fax (603) 883-2064 To ensure minimal disruption for the people we serve, the Division of Family Assistance now has the capability to accept applications for assistance over the web. This simple, fast, easy on-line application is now available at nheasy.nh.gov. All Salem clients will be getting a letter in April

  27. District Office Consolidation Salem Closure DFA will physically remain serving seniors in the ServiceLink on Lawrence Road in Salem—same as now. DFA is also available to work onsite with Salem are providers. Example: Center for Life Management has requested an eligibility worker be scheduled there occasionally to take applications from groups of clients. If you’d like DFA to be available onsite with you, simply call 271-4580. We’ll need private interview space onsite, high speed internet access, and a printer. Give us a date and a schedule of 3 to 5 applicants to see that day. For all Stakeholders Statewide: DFA can train you to submit applications for clients over the web. If you’re interested, call DFA’s training coordinator, Barbara Farrell, 227-1313.

  28. Cost Reduction Initiatives in the Governor’s Budget Count SSI in FANF Cases Currently SSI recipients are not included in FANF cases...neither their needs nor their income or resources. This initiative would count the income and resources for FANF, but also include the SSI recipient in the household. We know that 1557 cases have household members who receive SSI. We estimate 1,136 (or 73%) would close. Another 420 would see a grant reduction. Annual total savings in each of 2012 and 2013 are estimated at $3.8 million general funds and $4.4 million in federal funds. We estimate about 1,138 cases would close. Another 420 would see a reduction in their grant.

  29. Cost Reduction Initiatives in the Governor’s Budget Prohibition on Fleeing Felons Currently federal law prohibits fugitive felons and violators of probation or parole from receiving food stamps or TANF. A new federal crossmatch allows us for the first time to identify that we have ten such individuals currently on assistance. This initiative would align State cash programs—Old Age Assistance, Aid to the Needy Blind, and Aid to the Permanently and Totally Disabled—with these federal requirements. These individuals would continue to be eligible for related medical assistance. Savings are estimated at $81,000 in each of 2012 and 2013.

  30. Cost Reduction Initiatives in the Governor’s Budget Family Planning Reduction Currently DFA uses TANF money to help fund family planning initiatives in the Division of Public Health. This initiative would remove 1/3rd of that funding. Savings are estimated at $100,000 in each of 2012 and 2013.

  31. Cost Reduction Initiatives in the Governor’s Budget • Revert to 209(b) methodology for APTD and OAA • This initiative changes the way earned income of employed individuals on APTD or OAA is used to determine eligibility. Currently, the methodology is to deduct the 1st $65, any impairment related work expenses, and then ½ of the balance. • The new methodology will be to deduct the first $20, ½ of the balance up to $30, and $18 or actual employment expenses. • Savings are estimated to be $412,000 in general funds in each of 2012 and 2013.

  32. Cost Reduction Initiatives in the Governor’s Budget Aligning APTD Cash with SSI When clients apply for SSP, DFA monitors that they apply also for SSI. SSI makes medical decisions based on whether a disability is expected to last one year. For New Hampshire’s APTD, the disability must last 4 years. Yet in about 5% of cases, SSI denies medical eligibility (for 1 year disability) that we have already approved (for 4 year disability). Under this initiative, when SSI denies a medical disability, APTD would close. Savings are estimated at about $3.5 million in general funds in each of 2012 and 2013.

  33. Cost Reduction Initiatives in the Governor’s Budget Count Parent Income for ANB Currently DFA has 374 ANB cases. For the 118 recipients who are under age 18, the income and resources of the parents are not considered as a part of the eligibility determination. Aid to the Needy Blind (ANB) is the only cash program where the parent’s income is not counted in determining the child’s eligibility. This initiative would deem the income and resources of parents to their children. Cost savings are estimated at about $600,000 in general funds in each of 2012 and 2013.

  34. Cost Reduction Initiatives in the Governor’s Budget • 1/3rd Reduction to State Cash When Living with a Household Member • Currently State cash recipients receive a flat grant regardless of living expenses. • This initiative would align with SSI policy to reduce the benefit by 1/3rd when a recipient lives with another adult and receives free shelter from others in the household. • Cost savings are estimated at about $630,000 in general funds in each of 2012 and 2013.

  35. Cost Reduction Initiatives in the Governor’s Budget Prospective vs. Retrospective SSP Currently State Cash begins on the first day of the month in which eligibility is determined. FANF, on the other hand, begins effective the first pay period following the application. Example: A FANF client is determined eligible on March 10th. Their eligibility would begin effective the first pay period, which is March 16. The first check would be issued on March 30. This initiative would align SSP Cash with FANF cash, in effect saving the cost of the first paycheck to SSP recipients. Cost savings are estimated to be $760,000 in general funds in each of 2012 and 2013

  36. Questions about our new bus?

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