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Q&A
Addressing issues with document submission and processing
0:44:08
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Council Member Diana Ayala raises concerns about documents being lost or misplaced after submission, leading to application delays or denials. Administrator Scott French acknowledges the challenges and explains HRA's efforts to improve document processing.
- Ayala notes that constituents and staff often have to submit documents multiple times due to processing errors.
- French acknowledges the high volume of applications (48,000 cash and 36,000 SNAP applications monthly) and the potential for indexing errors.
- HRA is implementing auto-indexing technology, starting with SNAP applications, to improve document processing accuracy.
- The agency continues to investigate specific cases brought to their attention and seeks ways to improve the overall process.
Diana Ayala
0:44:08
Seventy one %?
0:44:09
Mhmm.
0:44:09
Okay.
0:44:11
Yeah.
0:44:11
I just I'm trying to figure out because one of the complaints and one of things that I see a lot, you know, through our services division is that people are submitting documents and then being told that the documents were not submitted.
0:44:24
And sometimes my own staff is submitting the documents, so we know that the documents had in fact been submitted and somewhere in the you know abyss they they get lost, right.
0:44:33
So then you know it happens pretty often and my concern is that then they would have to start the process again at the thirty day mark because there's no way of determining right that the documents were in fact.
0:44:48
So if my staff doesn't call and say listen I have like I I I you know I upload them, I sent them myself, there's no way that a person on their own can kind of prove, right, that they did that.
0:44:59
And they're doing it sometimes upwards of five times.
0:45:02
And, you know, so there's something, there's a disconnect somewhere.
0:45:06
Is there an acknowledgment at least on the DSS part and some sort of plan to try to figure out what that disconnect is?
Scott French
0:45:15
Yeah, absolutely.
0:45:16
You know, there is a very high volume of, you know, applications and recertifications that come through on a monthly basis.
0:45:24
We're averaging about 48,000 cash applications a month, about 36,000 snap applications plus recertifications.
0:45:31
So I'm not going to sit here and say that our indexing processes are perfect in any way.
0:45:37
We continue to look at ways in which we can improve the indexing to ensure that documents that are, you know, submitted are actually connected to the right case.
0:45:45
We are rolling out technologies starting first on the snap side where we are doing auto indexing so that when someone submits some documents, it can be connected to that case.
0:45:57
Right now, some of the indexing is, you know, a person process and a people process where there can be, you know, incidents of, you know, documents maybe not being connected to the right case.
0:46:08
Obviously, in instances, you know, where the council members bring those to our attention, we we do research to try to understand first what may have happened and then how can we address that moving forward.
0:46:18
Although we acknowledge it is a process that we're continuously looking at given sort of the very large volume of documents that we are sort of managing on a monthly basis.