At human services, they need humans to answer phones

Pat Dapeer said that if The Watchdog didn't believe what she was saying, he should try for himself.

Make phone calls to the state offices that handle the food stamp program. See if anyone answers the telephone. She almost dared me.

The 66-year-old disabled Watauga woman says it's a tossup which is worse: going hungry or dealing with the food stamp bureaucracy.

Let me summarize how my telephone testing of the Texas Health and Human Services Commission offices went.

Ring ... ring ... ring. No answering machine of any kind on calls to a local food stamp office. Just ring ... ring ... ring.

On some other phone lines I tested, an automated voice machine answered the phone and led me through prompts. But the voice system doesn't let you go backward. If you hit a wrong button, it tells you to call again before saying, "Goodbye." On another customer-assistance line, I called a half-dozen times to hear all the choices, which usually led me to more automated voice systems or the dreaded ring ... ring ... ring.

Twice, I found human beings on the other end of an HHS phone. But these people I spoke to from HHS didn't argue when I told them of Dapeer's frustrations. They know.

"A huge problem," HHS spokeswoman Stephanie Goodman said. "For years, we had high caseloads and antiquated technology and phone systems in our offices. We've been trying to undergo an effort to modernize."

The ringing phones are fallout from a major experiment in state government that nearly everyone involved calls a disaster. Texas tried to become the first state to outsource to private companies the administration of its top assistance programs such as food stamps, Medicaid and cash assistance for needy families.

The state hired a group of companies, led by technology consulting firm Accenture, for $899 million for five years to run call centers, update the department's technology systems and perform other duties. But the company's debut in several Central Texas call centers was such a disaster that state officials called the project off. By then, though, many longtime state employees had left, thinking their jobs were gone.

The results are skimpy front lines of state workers helping those needing assistance. Those who need to call these phone numbers for assistance include applicants who are denied benefits and wish to appeal, disabled people who can't travel and people like Dapeer who have questions about existing benefits.

Governing magazine published a September report on "The Struggle to Streamline" that said Texas' venture into privatization "turned into a dark comedy of bungled work; unanswered and dropped calls; applications lost, ignored and misdirected."

Star-Telegram.com | 10/14/2007 | At human services, they need humans to answer phones