Written by From 2009 to 2011, Hawaii’s staffing levels for the Department of Human Services (DHS) and Benefit, Employment & Support Services Division (BESSD) was reduced by 50% due to budget cuts. Consequently, Hawaii was facing a federal class action lawsuit and penalties for not providing benefits in a timely manner.
C!A (Change & Innovation Agency) worked closely with DHS to analyze and determine different strategies for processing the work. New processes were implemented statewide with the support of a custom configured implementation of workload, workflow, and workforce management solution, PathOS, to assist with ongoing monitoring and management of workload and office performance to ensure continued adherence to the new processes.
The new processes have enabled Hawaii to achieve:
- An increase in statewide timeliness rate from 67% (before) to 97%
- Same-day service is offered to seven out of every 10 families who visit an office (previously, families had to wait three months for an initial benefits decision).
- DHS now provides on-demand interviews and processing at all local offices, as well as for non-lobby work.
Read the entire article at https://changeagents.info/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/HI_Case_20180806.pdf