N.C. FAST is getting under way

The Division of Social Services wants to make the most of Information Age technology. NC FAST is showing the way.

The Families Accessing Services through Technology program strives to improve the information-sharing abilities of state and county DSS offices. When NC FAST implements its major project, called Case Management, the results will be greater efficiency and better service statewide.

What prevents automated systems from performing optimally right now is the sheer number of them. State DSS and each county agency use their own computer systems, which may not be entirely compatible with other systems. Case Management will make each county’s computer network compatible not only with the state, but also with those of other counties.

That should save a young life about every two months, said Bonnie Knowles, project director. Investigations of child fatalities frequently find that a Child Protective Services caseworker had looked into abuse and neglect reports when the child lived in another county, but when the family moved to another county, the information did not follow. This occurs about five times a year, Knowles said.

The Case Management project will allow all state and local DSS computers to track clients throughout the system, giving caseworkers a complete history of benefits the client has received in the past — from Food Stamps and Work First to Energy Assistance and Medicaid. Standardization should reduce the possibility of fraud and error, as well as ensure clients get all the benefits to which they are entitled.

Case Management will also reduce the number of applications a client fills out. Once the relevant information is in the system, it follows not only from locale to locale but also from program to program.

Knowles anticipates next year NC FAST will issue a request for proposals to design and create the Case Management project. A target date for implementation will not be known until the proposals arrive.

In the meantime, NC FAST has launched a pilot project in New Hanover County, called Service Delivery Interface, or SDI, that went live Aug. 1. Awaiting installation in a handful of other counties, SDI helps caseworkers manage Food Stamps benefits. Besides eliminating multiple entry of client information, SDI quickly processes all Food Stamps transactions — from eligibility determination to terminations.

“It saves the time of the front-line workers, so they have more time to meet with clients,” said Kevin Kelley, interim business manager for NC FAST.

All county DSS offices currently use a powerful efficiency and accuracy tool developed by NC FAST. Online Verification, or OLV, allows one-stop perusal of several state and federal databases to verify information provided by program applicants. “Our research indicates that OLV saves 30 minutes per case from a caseworker not having to log into and out of various systems,” said Mark Barnhart, NC FAST implementation manager.

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Last Modified: September 1, 2006