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2016 Clearinghouse Rev. 1 (2016)

handle is hein.journals/clear50 and id is 1 raw text is: How to Protect Clients Receiving Public Benefits When Modernized Systems Fail: Apply Traditional Due Process in New Contexts BY GINA MANNIX, MARC COHAN, AND GREG BASS F ifty years ago Goldberg v. Kelly in- fused public benefits administra- tion with due process principles of fundamental fairness by requiring agencies to give notice and the oppor- tunity for a pretermination hearing to benefits recipients.' States today employ sophisticated technology to transform public benefits administration, but the result too often is chaos and arbitrary ex- clusions of eligible households when sys- tems fail. These developments challenge advocates to revisit the meaning of due process and fundamental fairness and to consider how due process can shape their advocacy. Here we present a broad overview of the due process issues and highlight recent advocacy by Commu- nity Legal Services of Philadelphia. When Public Benefits Modernization Fails States have been modernizing adminis- tration of public benefit programs-includ- ing the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Medicaid, and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)-for over a decade. Modernization generally refers to a range of strategies such as automated eligibility determination and case management systems; Web-based systems for submitting applications, reporting changes, and finding case status and notices; call centers that may be used in the application process for reporting 1 Goldberg v. Kelly, 397 U.S. 254 (1970). fOzL N93f States today employ sophisticated technology to transform public benefits administration, but the result too often is chaos and arbitrary exclusions of eligible households when systems fail. changes, giving case status information, and conducting eligibility interviews; digitized document imaging; and business process reengineering that revises case management workflow and typically moves away from a model in which a caseworker is assigned to a case toward a model in which workers perform designated functions.2 The consequences have too often been 2 The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act has encouraged ambitious improvements by requiring states to streamline processing of applications for Medicaid and health coverage through the new health insurance marketplaces. Enhanced federal funding (i.e., 90 percent) is available for state Medicaid information technology (IT) upgrades to accomplish the streamlining and data sharing requirements. Federal waivers allow related state human services programs to benefit from the Medicaid IT upgrades and improve eligibility determination systems for these other programs (see, e.g., Terri Shaw et al., Center on Budget and Policy Priorities & Social Interest Solutions State Innovations in Horizontal Integration: Leveraging Technology for Health and Human Services (March 24, 2015)). For a review of state online services, see Center on Budget and Policy Priorities Online Services for Key Low Income Benefit Programs (March 18,2015). JANUARY 2016CLEARINGHOUSE ARTICLE I CLEARINGHOUSE ARTICLE I JANUARY 2016

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