INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — A federal official has told the state to halt any further rollout of its automation of welfare eligibility because it is taking too long to process and approve food stamp applications, The Associated Press has learned.

The Food and Nutrition Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture sent a letter to the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration ordering the state to delay any further rollout of the welfare changes until it improved its timeliness in processing applications.

“Indiana’s most recent monthly reports indicate a decline in the timeliness of application processing that has occurred in the pilot region since the transition to the modernized service delivery model. Indiana’s statewide application processing rate also continues to be a concern,” said the letter from FNS Regional Administrator Ollice Holden to FSSA Secretary Mitch Roob.

FSSA piloted the welfare changes in a 12-county region of north central Indiana centered around Marion last Oct. 29 and expanded it to 27 counties in southern and western Indiana on March 24. It reached 20 additional counties in northeastern and southwestern Indiana in May. It was due next to go to 13 counties in northwest and north central Indiana, with 20 counties in central Indiana last to go.

Roob said FSSA follows a 60-day standard for approving food stamp applications rather than the 30-day standard followed by FNS and most states, but said his agency would work to meet the federal standard. He also said FSSA’s timetable for rolling out the changes already was pushed back because of recent flooding in southern Indiana.

“We have a corrective action plan that we are putting together with FNS,” Roob said.

Indiana’s welfare changes have come under fire from lawmakers, welfare clients and their advocates who claim the new system loses necessary documents, leaves telephone callers on hold for long periods and other problems. The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a lawsuit seeking class-action status because it claims FSSA has illegally cut off clients’ benefits.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jill Long Thompson criticized Gov. Mitch Daniels’ administration’s handling of the modernization project in a statement issued Wednesday night.

“As I have traveled Indiana over the recent months I have heard from many people about the problems they have encountered with this system. The governor and his administration have heard these same concerns yet apparently did not care enough to act,” she said.

The Associated Press left phone messages seeking comment from Daniels’ office and campaign.

A legislative study committee chaired by House Ways and Means Chairman William Crawford, D-Indianapolis, will hold a field hearing Thursday on the welfare changes and other FSSA matters in Kokomo, which is located in the 12-county pilot region. The hearing begins at 1 p.m. at the Kelley Student Center at Indiana University-Kokomo.

Holden’s letter was dated June 23, but FSSA spokeswoman Lauren Auld said the agency did not receive the letter until June 25.

“FNS expects FSSA to realize measurable improvement in the area of application processing timeliness before the state proceeds with any additional rollout of the modernization project,” Holden wrote in the letter, which was obtained by the AP.

The state awarded a team of vendors led by IBM Corp. and Affiliated Computer Services Inc. a $1.16 billion, 10-year contract to process applications for Medicaid, food stamps and other public safety net benefits received by about 1.1 million children, seniors, people with disabilities and other needy Hoosiers. The deal introduced telephone call centers, the Internet and fax services as means to apply for benefits.

The deal was intended to make the processing of welfare benefits more efficient, but Holden’s letter indicated it has had the opposite effect, at least when it comes to food stamps. During the six months before the initial rollout on Oct. 29, FSSA was approving about 85 percent of food stamp applications from the pilot region within the federally required 30 days.

During the six months following the initial rollout, however, FSSA approved less than half of food stamp applications within 30 days, and an additional 43 percent during the 31-60-day time period, Holden wrote.

FNS expects states to process 95 percent of food stamp applications within 30 days.

The June 23 letter is not the first time FNS has stepped in to order FSSA to improve its processing of food stamps. FSSA on three occasions last year — on June 22, Aug. 16 and Oct. 12 — also submitted improvement plans to FNS in response to Holden’s concerns.

Holden in his most recent letter acknowledged FSSA’s position that the timeliness data was misleading because the state agency, rather than denying food stamp applications that were pending more than 30 days, provides an additional 30 days to clients to submit required documents. Otherwise, clients must start the application process over from scratch.

Roob said the June 23 letter was the first time he could recall that FNS was holding Indiana to a 30-day standard.

Holden, however, wrote Roob that “FNS has addressed concerns about timeliness with the state on a number of occasions,” most recently in a letter March 13.

“We judge ourselves on the 60-day period and they want to judge us on the 30-day period. They don’t want us to have a 60-day standard, but we have always had a 60-day standard,” Roob said.

He added: “We are willing to move to a 30-day standard.”

Roob also questioned Holden’s directive to halt the rollout to additional counties until timeliness improved. “They don’t have the authority to do that,” Roob said.

Roob said FSSA’s timetable for rolling out the welfare changes has always “been written in pencil,” meaning it was flexible.

He also said privatization and automation have not hurt FSSA’s timeliness in processing food stamp applications.

Posted 7/31/2008