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* UPDATED x1 - Harris responds * IDHS claims Rep. Greg Harris has “chosen to misrepresent issues”

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* Background is here and here. From Meghan Powers at the Illinois Department of Human Services…

Hi Rich-

We met with Representative [Greg] Harris just two weeks ago to discuss IES, the integrated eligibility system that launched in 2013. Phase 2 of IES rolled out last October. We’ve been working to communicate with not only legislators, but also our staff and community agencies about the new system. We’ve recently sent a letter to legislators (attached) sharing system performance updates and a message has also gone out to IDHS staff. Initially, we were not invited to participate in Monday’s hearing, and were not able to appear with the one business day’s notice that we received.

It’s regrettable that Representative Harris has chosen to misrepresent issues with the system, which is only causing confusion and fear among our customers. We’ve worked with other members of the General Assembly on both sides of the aisle to try to dispel these rumors and help them understand the federal program requirements customers must follow to remain eligible for assistance.

I’m unsure what “40,000 Medicaid recipients” is referring to in Ms. Hodge’s story, but if she is referring to eligibility redeterminations, these have always taken place. The very point of redeterminations is to understand if customers are still eligible for the program, resulting in the continuation of some customers’ benefits and the discontinuation of others. IES has automated the process of receiving customer information and determining eligibility. Prior to IES, this was a manual process. We knew there would be some issues with a system of this size and complexity, but we’ve fixed them as they surfaced and system performance is improving.

As always, we encourage reporters and legislators to reach out to us if they have questions about the validity of their claims. We will continue to update legislators, staff and stakeholders with information about IES and system performance.

The full letter to legislators is here. They are apparently making some progress with system “timeouts” and “errors”…

At times caseworkers experience errors or are timed out of the system. This creates a longer process for caseworkers when updating or processing a case; however, we’ve been working hard to improve this.

I am very happy to report that some of our efforts to improve IES performance have been paying off and last week we saw significantly better system performance. We saw a 63% improvement in number of timeouts or errors that caseworkers experience when processing cases and this included a 2 hour period when the Federal Data Services Hub became unavailable causing a disruption in IES. If you remove the data when the Federal Data Services Hub was unavailable, we saw an 80% improvement. Now, the average time it takes for a caseworker to determine eligibility in the system is down 49% from last month.

I’ll check to see if Rep. Harris (D-Chicago) has a response.

*** UPDATE *** Rep. Greg Harris responds…

We have heard hours of testimony from families, seniors, healthcare providers and people with disabilities all telling heartbreaking tales of problems they have endured because of these new systems. We have heard dedicated workers across the state describe the system failures that prevent them from helping those in need. I believe the families and the workers.

posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, May 2, 18 @ 11:44 am

Comments

What I believe is that both sides are spinning it as hard as they can. Harris yelling the sky is falling and IDHS/Rauner saying everything is fine. I mean, the only issue mentioned in the letter is timeouts that slow down caseworkers? That’s the only problem that needs to be fixed? Please.

Comment by Perrid Wednesday, May 2, 18 @ 11:59 am
=== Now, the average time it takes for a caseworker to determine eligibility in the system is down 49% from last month. ===

My mamma told me to always be wary of statistics like these. We see “percent improved” numbers, but no actual base number of the amount of time it takes to determine eligibility. Is it 2 minutes, two hours, two days, two weeks or months?

We don’t know.

What we do know is that she never disputes the drop in enrollment with her own figures showing “Hey! Enrollment is actually up!”

Comment by Thomas Paine Wednesday, May 2, 18 @ 12:04 pm
Miscalculation. Greg Harris’ reputation in Springfield has been built since 2006. His credit score is significantly higher than the administration’s.

Comment by LizPhairTax Wednesday, May 2, 18 @ 12:08 pm
They are not going to win this if the plan is to question Harris’ credibility. He has too much credibility in the Chamber and with the press. The administration does not.

“One business day warning” is still three days in this instance. And even if you accept the claim they weren’t formally invited to participate, they still chose not to send someone. What if a witness or member of the committee had a question that could have been answered right on the spot? Perhaps then any misinformation the Department is now claiming exists could have been headed off.

Comment by Dirty Red Wednesday, May 2, 18 @ 12:09 pm
Perrid, that’s false equivalency right there. One side is raising the alarm on behalf of Illinois residents who deserve the services that our taxes are supposed to provide. The other side is whining and complaining and dismissing real people with real, serious problems as acceptable casualties.

Comment by Soccermom Wednesday, May 2, 18 @ 12:10 pm
They can parse it a million ways til Rauner’s grandfather’s cows come home. This is an unmitigated failure. Hundreds of millions of dollars are being flushed down the toilet and the reputation of everyone on the wrong side of this will be too unless they start looking for solutions and stop deflecting.

Comment by P. Wednesday, May 2, 18 @ 12:10 pm
I am waiting for IDHS to report how fast they are making decisions on cases as well as how long it takes an office to reinstate a case that was cancelled. It is well known that some cases are taking 6-7 months to make a decision due to agency delay (DHS likes to often blame the client for the delay).

Comment by illinifan Wednesday, May 2, 18 @ 12:12 pm
Dirty Red, you raise a good point. If it were my agency and I weren’t invited, I would have attended with a good chunk of senior staff, and I would have handouts available for the press — along with a statement expressing my outrage that we had not been invited to testify. Instead, we get “nobody asked me to this public hearing, so I decided to stay home and sulk.”

Comment by Soccermom Wednesday, May 2, 18 @ 12:18 pm
Secretary Dimas has personally admitted that IES has been garbage and that we’ve flushed tens of millions down the toilet with Deloitte. He said he hopes it’ll improve in … November. I listened to him say those words.

Comment by PJ Wednesday, May 2, 18 @ 12:18 pm
Tell you what, Ms Powers. Come spend a week working a lobby in one of the offices, handling cases and the issues this system has caused, then come back and say those issues are being over exaggerated. The disconnect between frontline staff and those in Springfield has been growing for some time now, but this… it’s as good as spitting in the faces of those workers and the people this department are supposed to serve.

Comment by Fixer Wednesday, May 2, 18 @ 12:19 pm
=== I believe the families and the workers. ===

Let me see. Believe Rauner admin types or “families and the workers?” Good choice Rep. Harris.

Comment by Norseman Wednesday, May 2, 18 @ 12:19 pm
If you follow the work of Harris’ committee, you know that he’s been one of the only people to expose and air out what’s happening with Medicaid and the various consulting contracts the administration has entered into over the past few years. The Medicaid system has always been flawed, if not broken, but the Rauner administration has ripped it apart in so many ways that its experienced death by a thousand cuts.

The problem is this story - the real story - is too complicated for news articles. There are too many pieces and problems, so it’s easy for the administration to claim “nothing to see here” why members of the GA point out they know something suspicious is happening.

Comment by hfkddh Wednesday, May 2, 18 @ 12:19 pm
Greg Harris is not known for spinning, or saying the sky is falling. If anything, he has been fair and circumspect in dealing with big issues.

Comment by walker Wednesday, May 2, 18 @ 12:20 pm
illinifan, my office has been specifically marking them as agency delay in regards to those medical apps and reinstatements. Not sure what other offices are doing in that regard but those numbers would be excellent to see.

Comment by Fixer Wednesday, May 2, 18 @ 12:21 pm
== if she is referring to eligibility redeterminations, these have always taken place…Prior to IES, this was a manual process.==

Meghan has been a spokesperson at IDHS for 23 months and in sales at JPM Chase three years before that. How would she know?

Comment by Jocko Wednesday, May 2, 18 @ 12:22 pm
@Soccermom, I agree Rep. Harris is more believable, both in general and in this case, but at the same time you have to imagine he’s at least a little politically motivated. I know there are problems with IES, believe me I know, but calling it a failure or a complete waste of money, as Rep. Harris has at least implied, seems like an exaggeration to me.

Comment by Perrid Wednesday, May 2, 18 @ 12:23 pm
Soccermom, well done.

So, Meghan, have 150 thousand citizens been unlawfully kicked off Medicaid since Jan. 1 due to you crews incompetence/malice or not?

Simple question.

Your incoherent word salad with a heaping side of gibberish does not provide an answer.

You presumably wrote, read and edited that post before you hit the “send” button? How are you not on the tronc edit board?

Comment by wordslinger Wednesday, May 2, 18 @ 12:26 pm
Customers?

Excuse me, but if you must use the language of your bidnessman boss, you should refer to them as clients. They are also your boss’ boss, as taxpayers and citizens.

Customers. That is a horrible way to think of needy people who need healthcare. It sums up everything that is wrong with this Governor and his approach to government.

Comment by 47th Ward Wednesday, May 2, 18 @ 12:28 pm
==Initially, we were not invited to participate in Monday’s hearing, and were not able to appear with the one business day’s notice that we received.==

But they sure are quick on generating a response after the hearing, when they don’t have to take follow-up questions.

Comment by Whatever Wednesday, May 2, 18 @ 12:34 pm
Hoo boy, question Greg Harris, better have your homework double-checked and study hard to defend your thesis. He’s a very prepared man.

Comment by ZC Wednesday, May 2, 18 @ 12:40 pm
Fixer glad to hear you are marking this information as agency delay. The challenge is the official speak at meetings from some administration who like to cite client delay. You and I know the reality. It is important for senior management and appointees to speak the truth. The data would be great to see. The challenge I have heard is that it is difficult to gather data from IES including how long cases have been pending. Hope this has improved and can be requested through the reporting system.

Comment by illinifan Wednesday, May 2, 18 @ 12:42 pm
I’m sure the commenters on here do not mean to pin this on Meghan. She is, after all, spokesperson for the Department. We do not know for a fact it was her idea to try this response nor not send someone to the hearing Monday. /obvious

Comment by Dirty Red Wednesday, May 2, 18 @ 12:48 pm
@Perrid, I have some exciting news for you: We are living in a political system!

Yes, Rep. Harris is trying to let his voters know that he is working for them, so they will elect him again. (And I predict that they will!) But it is not an overstatement to say that a system intended to help people access health care is a failure when it actually prevents people from getting care. I mean, that’s kind of the definition of a system failure.

If you bought an expensive new car and everything worked except the transmission, and you brought it to the dealer and they argued with you about whether that counted as a failure, how would you feel if they accused you of exaggerating the extent of the problem?

“We knew there would be some issues with a vehicle of this size and complexity, but we’ve fixed them as they surfaced, and vehicle performance is improving.” I mean, yeah, the thing still doesn’t move forward, but the windshield wipers are working great!

Comment by Soccermom Wednesday, May 2, 18 @ 1:05 pm
“IES has automated the process of receiving customer information and determining eligibility”

Totally totally false

A customer returns their rede to the Springfield central scanning unit where it is scanned by hand into IES
This digital copy is then qued up for caseworkers at the appropriate work unit or FCRC to process and certify
Caseworkers processing and certifying
And fighting every g@d da$n day with the system to get it to do what we know has to be done.
All day every day I pull cases out of the ditch
Where IES placed it
Ready to go
But sat there untouched
Until the customer finally came in
Then if they are owed a back benefit
They have to wait again
Automated
My God that makes me spitting mad
There is hardly anything automated about it
Sure the bar code routes it to the correct case
But that is about it
What is automated is the data they get
Numbers numbers numbers
Compiling reports is management automation
Caseworkers quadrupled their load

Comment by Honeybear Wednesday, May 2, 18 @ 1:12 pm
She needs to tell the crying woman in the next interview booth how things are improving.
Her app was lost and she’s going to have to apply all over again.
Balling her eyes out
You deal with it Meghan Powers

Comment by Honeybear Wednesday, May 2, 18 @ 1:15 pm
Agree with Honeybear- IES has far more problems than timeouts. It has problems certifing a family of 5, AABD, Snap, not to mention system loops that prolong processing a simple case. When you call the “help desk” you cant get assistance only a ticket number and told it will be worked on. Its frustrating for the worker and the people in need services. I just dont understand why the Administration is covering for this awful program

Comment by Frontliner Wednesday, May 2, 18 @ 2:05 pm
There are three different citizen types involved in this issue, and each is complaining.

Citizens who want service, but doesn’t care about anything else. This is OK. Citizens in need don’t need to care.

Citizens who pay for services and demand accountabilities, efficiencies and struggle to make ends meet too. The Federal government won’t cut us a blak check. They was the system to prevent fraud.

Finally, the civil servant. They walk the fine line between both citizen type. IES has to help them help citizens in need, and meet demands from citizens supporting the State. These citizens write the laws, set the conditions, implement changes, answer questions and are all good people. Both Harris and Powers are in this group.

Implementing systemic change is hard. Screaming citizens from every side makes this even harder. Politics is harmful to this process as well.

Bottom line - no one is happy and everyone needs to stop claiming malice or victimhood. If we blow this up, don’t expect needed changes in the future on anything. This is life.

Harris is doing his job, Powers is doing hers, Deloitte is doing theirs, and everyone needs to take a time out and see that.

Comment by VanillaMan Wednesday, May 2, 18 @ 2:07 pm
===Deloitte is doing theirs,===

I’d say the jury is still out on this assertion.

Comment by 47th Ward Wednesday, May 2, 18 @ 2:09 pm
DirtyRed, you are, of course, correct and I was out of line with that comment earlier. I apologize for that. The sentiment stands though, that the disconnect from those administering the system from those actually working in it is much larger than it should be, and that spinning these problems as minor inconveniences by the administration is ridiculous.

Comment by Fixer Wednesday, May 2, 18 @ 2:50 pm
“It’s regrettable that Representative Harris has chosen to misrepresent issues with the system, which is only causing confusion and fear among our customers.”

That’s an outright lie. I’m the parent of an adult with a developmental disability and belong to a 2,400-member group called IPADD (Illinois Parents of Adults with Developmental Disabilities). Since last October and moving forward, members of IPADD have been experiencing various problems with Medicaid, LTSS, MCO coverage, and prescription & SNAP benefits. Parents have been tearing their hair out, trying to keep their sons and daughters fed and healthy.

How DARE she minimize our pain?

Comment by Informed Mom Wednesday, May 2, 18 @ 3:26 pm
“Initially, we were not invited to participate in Monday’s hearing, and were not able to appear with the one business day’s notice that we received.”

Parents were there, testifying, and so were nonprofit organizations’ representatives. Everybody had the same short notice but the truly invested parties showed up.

Comment by Informed Mom Wednesday, May 2, 18 @ 3:31 pm
“We knew there would be some issues with a system of this size and complexity, but we’ve fixed them as they surfaced and system performance is improving.”

Not true. Problems have persisted since October and are not being addressed as they arise. I mean, it’s not like any of us are keeping quiet about the problems. We started sounding the alarm bells six months ago.

Comment by Informed Mom Wednesday, May 2, 18 @ 3:34 pm
Fixer- you weren’t out of line in my opinion. You were actually pulling your punch to me. I get insensed at comments like Vanillamans of “take a time out”.
Tell that to the 89yo woman who went short on food for four days
Tell that to the dialysis patient who got their medical cancelled
Tell that to the mother with a hungry newborn
Tell that to the homeless veteran
Tell that to victim of human trafficking
Vanillaman you are not in this job
You cannot speak with authority about
Victimhood or malice in this case
I absolutely reject your placating
Call for calm
I experience your post as an attempt to silence the suffering that is being caused by the IES system both unintentionally and purposefully. I’ve tried to be honest in my assessment
But no I will not calm down or be quiet
You come from a generation that trusted authority
That trust is misplaced in this case
Deloitte is not doing their job
IDHS management is not doing their job
And Rauner has set this in motion
Vanillaman, I do deeply respect you and your posts.
But this topic is the hill I’m gonna die on.
Rauners IDHS administration is perfidious
I see every day fresh evidence that the emphasis
is not
on making sure that Illinoisans get the benefits they qualify for in a timely manner
But rather
Removing as many people from public assistance as possible by any means that they can conceivably get away with
Regardless of policy.
That is what I experience
Every day
And I’m being 100% honest
I didn’t believe they would do that either
Until I found so many cases with no other possible explanation that it became irrefutable.
Believe me or not
But please don’t expect me to be calm
In the face of this aggression towards our own people.

Comment by Honeybear Wednesday, May 2, 18 @ 3:36 pm
===Everybody had the same short notice but the truly invested parties showed up.===

*Mic drop*

Comment by Cubs in '16 Wednesday, May 2, 18 @ 3:38 pm
“We’ve recently sent a letter to legislators (attached) sharing system performance updates and a message has also gone out to IDHS staff.”

That message on the One-net got a good laugh around the office. And IES has crashed even more frequently ever since.

There are days where you are happy if you can do one whole case from start to finish.

Comment by union proud Wednesday, May 2, 18 @ 3:38 pm
A government health care web site/ computer system malfunctioning?

Wouldn’t be the first one and certainly won’t be the last.

Comment by Lucky Pierre Wednesday, May 2, 18 @ 4:06 pm
The administration could have provided testimony to explain their position but chose not to attend.

Comment by Not it Wednesday, May 2, 18 @ 4:20 pm
I support HoneyBear and Informed Mom, two people who actually know what they are talking about because they live it everyday…we will not calm down, we will hold them accountable.

Comment by justpeachy Wednesday, May 2, 18 @ 4:59 pm
“Deloitte is doing theirs”. Right. That firm is the most overpayed, arrogent group of knuckleheads I’ve ever encountered.

As for Rep Harris vs the administration, its obvious from the reactions here who is more credible, not just their records. Greg Harris deliberately spreading misinformation? Please. The man is about as sincere an individual you will ever meet.

Comment by low level Wednesday, May 2, 18 @ 6:46 pm
deloitte is also working to replace the state accounting system known as PAAS with something they call ERP. that is the next deloitte mess that rep harris and others will be talking about in 6 to 9 months. how deloitte continues to get important contracts is something that should be investigated. i know people working with deloitte on the project and they tell incredible tales of ineptitude in the development phase of the project. the deployment phase will be as bad as IES is their well-grounded concern.

Comment by dhs_worker Wednesday, May 2, 18 @ 10:15 pm
Since sb must have tipped off the Admin that Rich has posted on this subject - Ms. Powers’ response was to him - you’d think sb in the Admin would have also have read the comments on previous posts. But maybe not. Weird.

What do these people think, that we read the posts and skip the comments?

I vote for Honeybear’s veracity here, as do others. Facts, like, matter.

–A government health care web site/ computer system malfunctioning?

Wouldn’t be the first one and certainly won’t be the last. –

True. But we’re not talking about glitches here, we’re talking about major system failures.

Just out of curiosity, how long was the Medicaid sub-program of IES in beta-testing? Because all, or nearly all, of the issues noted above should have shown up during this phase and been corrected. You just don’t go live until the system is functioning properly at around, say, 90%.

P.S. If the program really was designed to kick people out of the system - if it’s a feature, not a bug - then that’s a separate scandal all its own. (cf. Honeybear’s remarks above)

Comment by dbk Thursday, May 3, 18 @ 12:42 am
I have worked on many projects from the State MIS side of things where Deloitte was the prime contractor. Basically Deloitte tries to get as much money as possible while doing as little work as possible.

Comment by Me Again Thursday, May 3, 18 @ 12:57 am
This just in from AFSCME:

A new computer system launched prematurely by the Rauner Administration is making it harder for DHFS and DHS employees to administer life-sustaining supports to Illinois families, and making public benefit offices less safe. So AFSCME members are speaking out about the problems and speaking up for their clients and their workplaces.

Six months ago the Department of Healthcare and Family Services launched Integrated Eligibility System (IES) Phase II, which is used by employees of that agency and the Department of Human Services to administer public benefits including medical and food assistance, funding for long term care, and cash assistance to the disabled and working families. Since then, system glitches have denied benefits to tens of thousands of needy families and individuals. The system was developed by Deloitte and every “fix” that the contractor downloads seems to create more problems. When families have to stand in line for hours and still can’t get the benefits they need, some take it out on the workers and each other, making local offices a more violent work environment.

DHS Standing Committee members have been compiling examples of systemic problems Deloitte cannot address, and sharing them with state lawmakers. As a result, the House Human Service Appropriations Committee is holding hearings on the ongoing IES disaster in hopes of forcing a solution. Committee members heard this week from DHS HSC Vonceil Metts (president, Local 2808) and HSCM Lori Gladson (president, Local 51) and were stunned with the volume and scope of the problems reported.

Comment by Me Again Thursday, May 3, 18 @ 1:55 am
Speaking from a state programmer perspective, the IES project has followed the same formula as other Deloitte-managed projects:

State MIS managers, who never fully understood the old system, write oversimplified proposals for a new replacement system without any input from the other parts of MIS - programmers, system analysts, policy experts or the system’s users.

Deloitte gets the job by underbidding, knowing that they can miss deadlines and raise the price later.

Deloitte software produced is extremely poor. State MIS programmers have done their part of the project on-time and under/budget, but Deloitte programmers are never available for consultation.

As testing and implementation deadlines are missed, state MIS managers and Deloitte managers blame each other.

Eventually the (working) old legacy system is shut down and the (defective) new replacement system is brought up. Users/caseworkers and customers/clients start complaining. No one listens to them. Months go by.

Lather, rinse, repeat.

Comment by Me Again Thursday, May 3, 18 @ 2:04 am
Okay so this morning I found something that might help explain. Eric Liu’s Gardens of Democracy which I was reading this morning highlights two mindsets, machinemind and garden-mind ( I know it sounds dumb but it’s an amazing book. Huge fan of Liu). Anyway, Powers and admin are obvious machine-mind, thinking in numbers and statistics which atomizes and dehumanizes issues. When confronted with real human suffering caused by IES she goes wide eyed and denies the problem citing statistics that the problem is solved and automated. Same with Rauner only he blames the victim not the machine. Garden-mind, thinking integrated ecosystems, the frontline workers, expressing feelings of frustration and frankly rage, on my part, at the impersonal and intentional suffering visited on our community, on the garden of good people that we tend and labor it. It’s like a robot has entered our community garden spraying DDT everywhere and trampling on tender shoots and plants because the are not neatly in the row or “the right way” as Rauner says. My fellow gardeners are screaming as loud as we can ” you are trampling all over our rows and your spray is killing our tender plants. Yes it kills the weeds but it is also killing weakened plants. But robot doesn’t care and robot doesn’t respond.
Poverty and need are very specialized gardens. Let your highly trained gardeners do their job. Get that GD robot out until you can get it under control, until your skilled gardeners can control it and utilize it as the specialized and labor saving tool it was designed to be, to help the gardener. Not replace the gardener. Replacing the gardener was the perfidious intent of Rauner.

Comment by Honeybear Thursday, May 3, 18 @ 9:15 am
Listen to Honeybear’s analogy. It is spot on.

Comment by Informed Mom Thursday, May 3, 18 @ 2:00 pm
Basically what I said before is that incompetent state MIS management and unscrupulous Deloitte management combine in a perfect storm to create a failed new system.

Comment by Me Again Thursday, May 3, 18 @ 9:47 pm