Colorado Benefits Management System (CBMS) - Part 1
If you got a chance to read my last entry regarding medical insurance, you probably noticed that I get a bit passionate about some things. Like the medical insurance problem, I hate when politicians play games. If the government (federal, state or local) establish programs that are meant to benefit people in need, like Food Stamps, TANF, SCHIP or pre-school assistance, then the government should make it readily available for those who qualify for the programs.
(I won’t go into my personal political views on whether these programs should have been setup in the first place. I get to have this argument every Christmas and at least once in the summer at my family reunion in Minnesota. Ultimately, I want to keep this focused and, frankly, more relevant to the point of this blog.)
Over the last six months, I have met with several non-profit organizations, foundations, state and local officials, social workers, and cases workers. While I have heard varying different reasons why people can’t get the benefits they qualify for, it seems that the political chess games (that may end up using hungry children as pawns) can often be to blame.
The Players in This Chess Game
To avoid referring to the various combatants in the game with loaded identifiers, like black and white, right or left, top or bottom, I will use “Them” guys and “Those” guys”.
For “Them” Guys
The King and Queen are represented by the federal, state and local officials and legislative branches that control the purse, and are responsible to provide services to those in need on behalf of the taxpayers. When asked, “Them” guys don’t want to leave any child behind. They want every child to have food, and they always suggest they are doing what it takes to see that everyone who qualifies receives the benefits they deserve. They make statements like, “We are not hearing of any problems” … but often times, “Them” guys’ King and Queen aren’t listening to their constituents.
For “Those” Guys
The King and Queen are represented by the endowed foundations that also control a substantial purse. Their ultimate charter is to provide services and/or fund programs that give back to the needy. Often times, they get tied up in wars with “Them” guys, suggesting more needs to be done to help the disadvantaged.
The Game
The castles, knights and rooks for “Them” and “Those” guys are made up of hardworking individuals fighting the battles on the front lines. “Them” guys have case workers and administrators at the Department of Health and Human Services and other offices responsible for administering the benefits programs. “Those” guys have case workers and administrators for non-profit organizations. All of these people seem to want to deliver the services the best way they can. But, they are hampered by the tools to carry out their task, much like these pieces in a chess game.
For instance in Colorado, many local news outlets have criticized the Colorado Benefits Management System (CBMS) application that has cost the taxpayers over $220 million. At best, the case workers who use the application are forced to use a clunky, ill-conceived, inefficient solution that causes them to struggle to do their jobs and to serve the needy. In fact, I have been told it can take up to three hours for a case worker to assist a client with completing the CBMS form which is 35 pages!
Three hours is bad enough, but the problem compounds if there are errors on the form. It may take weeks to inform a client that additional information is needed, and with strict deadlines, clients only get several days to submit changes. This turns the three hour initial meeting into another meeting (take a number, please), and if the deadline isn’t met, come back (take another number) and start the whole process over again. I could go on and on … suffice it to say, case workers are strapped to service their case loads with the current tools.
Non-profit case workers can’t use CBMS and struggle to give any real assistance, except for advice on what benefits a client may qualify for. They listen to the tragic stories from people who wait months and months to get the benefits they qualify for. Worse yet, they hear the numerous stories of clients who quit trying to apply for benefits they qualify for because of multiple erroneous rejections …
The pawns in this whole game are the needy people.
While the Kings and Queens for “Them” guys pay $220 million to a large corporate vendor and have little to show for it, the castles, knights and rooks are forced to use the expensive and wasteful CBMS application, and they are forced to defend it and the decisions of the King and Queen!
While time is wasted defending this position, children go hungry!!!! This isn’t hungry like I might have known as a kid (You go to bed with out supper, young man!), this is go hungry like the school lunch is the only meal you get for a week.
What gets me is that all the players (state, counties, cities, non-profits, foundations, EDS - the vendor, and citizens all want the same thing: children to be fed, people to receive the benefits they qualify for in a timely manner (it has been proven that this allows people to get off benefits sooner), and to administer these programs as cost effectively as possible. So while “Those” guys point fingers at “Them” guys and “Them” guys point back and defend a broken system, people don’t eat.
Efficient Benefits Application Solution Service
To top it all off, while years are wasted bantering, a solution exists today!
This solution can make it easy for clients to apply, make it easy for case workers to serve more clients each day, make it easy for non-profit case workers to help lift the burden felt by county case workers, and allow foundations to substantially fund the solution. Clients could immediately get the benefits they need in a timely manner and without errors.
Essentially, the solution can solve the problem, make the Kings and Queens happy, make the soldiers happy, and make the people happy.
The solution is Efficient Benefits Application Solution Service (EBASS) by Efficient Forms.
Our goal is to have the solution deployed this year in Colorado, but it will take the counties, states and foundations to come together to help us help them solve this major problem. We can do it very quickly and very cost effectively. We have several counties and foundations interested in giving it a chance. I will use my next posting to detail the solution and to potentially post some links to a demo.
[see also: Hmmmmmm. Maybe CBMS is not doing so well. by Don McCubbrey]
April 10th, 2008 at 4:05 pm
I participated in the “fix it or ditch it” march/rally last week. There were about 200 of us who believed that the state needed to make this a priority. Some of us were told that CBMS was a priority and that we didn’t need to “protest’. They said they were fixing it. I want to know what they are doing. What are their goals? Did they ask me, or anyone I know, how their new solutions are going to affect us?
How can Colorado continue to play “chess” with so many lives? 264,000 of our families deserve to eat–even when they need a little help purchasing food.
April 10th, 2008 at 4:58 pm
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April 28th, 2008 at 7:12 am
Monthly, on my caseload, I have several clients a month who are not receiving their food stamps or tanf, it it isn’t one, it is the other.
One trick this system plays on the client is the notice says paperwork has to be in by the 15th for example BUT if it is received anytime after the 5th it is booted out and considered late… and the client may have to wait an extra 45 days. And clients have to make repeated personal trips to the department to hand deliver paperwork as it will always be lost if it is mailed and no receipt is givent to prove when it was received!
I would be raising hell if I didn’t get paid on time! How can the state justify this?