Free Daily Headlines :

  • COVID-19
  • Vaccine Info
  • Money
  • Politics
  • Education
  • Health
  • Justice
  • More
    • Environment
    • Economic Development
    • Gaming
    • Investigations
    • Social Services
    • TRANSPORTATION
  • Opinion
    • CT Viewpoints
    • CT Artpoints
DONATE
Reflecting Connecticut’s Reality.
    COVID-19
    Vaccine Info
    Money
    Politics
    Education
    Health
    Justice
    More
    Environment
    Economic Development
    Gaming
    Investigations
    Social Services
    TRANSPORTATION
    Opinion
    CT Viewpoints
    CT Artpoints

LET�S GET SOCIAL

Show your love for great stories and out standing journalism

DSS call-wait time plummets (to 17 minutes) after changes

  • Health
  • by Arielle Levin Becker
  • July 10, 2015
  • View as "Clean Read" "Exit Clean Read"
Melissa Garvin details a drop in average phone wait times at the Department of Social Services.

Arielle Levin Becker :: CTMirror.org

Melissa Garvin details a drop in average phone wait times at the Department of Social Services.

Wait times for callers to reach a worker at the state Department of Social Services fell dramatically in June after changes meant to improve how the agency handles calls.

On average, people calling the social service agency waited 17 minutes on hold to reach a worker — down from 87 minutes last July.

“Although we’re not quite where we wish to be, no doubt you will be pleased to learn of some of the positive results we’re currently experiencing in our benefits centers today due to the enhancements and adjustments we’ve made,” Director of Field Operations Marva Perrin told members of the council that oversees the Medicaid program Friday.

Council members, who have been critical of the difficulty poor state residents face when trying to reach someone at DSS, praised the improved performance, but questioned whether it was sustainable and pressed department officials for what an ideal wait-time would be.

“It’s wonderful. I’m just asking, have you reached your targets?” asked Molly Rees Gavin, president of Connecticut Community Care Inc.

Perrin said officials are still trying to determine targets for two key metrics – how long it takes callers to reach a worker and what percentage of callers hang up before their call is answered.

DSS’s system for handling clients’ calls has been under scrutiny since soon after it was implemented two years ago as a way to improve service. The old system relied on each client reaching a specific worker, who kept their case information in paper files. Workers’ voice mailboxes were often full as they juggled large caseloads.

Under the new system, all documents are scanned into a computer system that workers at any DSS office in the state can access, and clients trying to reach a worker call a single phone number that – in theory – could connect them to the next available DSS worker in one of the department’s three benefits centers. The new system also includes systems designed to allow clients to get information about their cases online or through an automated phone system, or submit information online.

But the wait times to reach a worker by phone have been lengthy. Last August, for example, it took an average of 78 minutes on hold to reach a worker, and 71 percent of callers who wanted to speak to a representative hung up before their call was answered.

DSS now serves close to 1 million state residents.

While advocates pushed for the department to hire more staff, agency officials maintained that they could improve things by revising how work gets handled.

The department made several changes in May, including changing how work stemming from phone calls is handled. Initially, the workers who answered the phone would process any information on the client’s case after the call, meaning that for a time, they weren’t available to answer the next call. Now, during peak call times, staff who answer the phone forward some processing tasks to workers in other parts of the agency, allowing them to spend more time answering calls.

In addition, new workers who in the past started out answering phones now start out working with clients who come to the offices in person. Perrin said that when the new workers were answering the phones, they would sometimes require help from other benefits center workers, who would have to come off the phones to help. Now the new workers don’t move to the phones until they have more experience and are better able to handle calls by themselves.

Officials also tried to streamline the tasks workers must do to process cases, said Melissa Garvin, the department’s director of tactical planning.

In May, the average wait time to reach a worker dropped to 23 minutes, and in June, it fell to 17 minutes. The percentage of callers who hung up while on hold dropped from 57 percent in March to 31 percent in June.

“We’re meeting the needs of more and more people,” Garvin said.

But she added that officials are trying to make other improvements, including developing standardized call scripts for all workers, which has been shown to reduce time on the phone, and making plans for customer service training for workers who answer the phone.

Ellen Andrews, executive director of the Connecticut Health Policy Project, called the new call statistics encouraging, but asked how the department would ensure they can be sustained.

Perrin noted that as more calls are answered and clients have their issues resolved, there should be fewer calls. “The more we do, the less the need will be to actually call us,” she said. “So we hope that this trend continues.”

And Garvin said officials monitor how much processing is transferred from the call centers to workers in other departments, to avoid that shift slowing down the other work those employees are doing.

Sheldon Toubman, an attorney with the New Haven Legal Assistance Association who has argued that DSS needs more workers, said he was pleased to see the agency moving in the right direction.

“An abandonment rate of 31 percent is still too high, but we have to acknowledge major improvement,” he said.

Rep. Catherine Abercrombie, D-Meriden, raised another question: How will the department handle what could be an increase in requests for assistance once a major change in Medicaid eligibility occurs later this year?

This year’s budget calls for reducing Medicaid eligibility for parents, a move expected to cause an estimated 23,700 low-income state residents to lose coverage. Because of federal rules, the vast majority are expected to receive an additional 12 months of coverage, but an estimated 1,350 are slated under state law to lose coverage this year.

Marc Shok, DSS director of eligibility policy and economic security, said the agency will have scripts and information in place for both DSS staff and those at Access Health CT, the state’s health insurance exchange, where those losing coverage could purchase subsidized insurance.

Although the coverage change is effective Aug. 1 under state law, Shok said the department won’t have enough time to get notices to those slated to lose coverage who don’t qualify for the additional 12 months, so they will not lose coverage until Sept. 1.

Sign up for CT Mirror's free daily news summary.

Free to Read. Not Free to Produce.

The Connecticut Mirror is a nonprofit newsroom. 90% of our revenue comes from people like you. If you value our reporting please consider making a donation. You'll enjoy reading CT Mirror even more knowing you helped make it happen.

YES, I'LL DONATE TODAY

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Arielle Levin Becker Arielle Levin Becker covers health care for The Connecticut Mirror. She previously worked for The Hartford Courant, most recently as its health reporter, and has also covered small towns, courts and education in Connecticut and New Jersey. She was a finalist in 2009 for the prestigious Livingston Award for Young Journalists and a recipient of a Knight Science Journalism Fellowship and the National Health Journalism Fellowship. She is a graduate of Yale University.

SEE WHAT READERS SAID

RELATED STORIES
What we’ve lost, what we’ve learned during our year of COVID
by CT Mirror Staff

On March 6, 2020, Gov. Ned Lamont announced that the first case of COVID-19 had been detected in Connecticut, and within weeks, life as we knew it was a memory. Schools were shut down, universities emptied, businesses shuttered. Those of us who were fortunate enough to be able to work from home set up shop at our […]

Plan to expand child tax credit offers hope along with direct payments
by Lisa Backus | C-HIT.ORG

When her car started making a noise more than a year ago, Chinara Johnson parked the vehicle and hasn’t used it since. As a New Haven mother of 5-year-old twin boys, one of whom is on the autism spectrum, and an 8-year-old daughter, Johnson doesn’t have the money to get the car running properly again. […]

Aid-in-dying bill clears key hurdle with committee passage
by Jenna Carlesso

The bill would let terminally ill patients access medication to end their lives.

With billions in federal relief on the way to CT, legislators assert their role in deciding how to spend it
by Keith M. Phaneuf and Mark Pazniokas

With an unusual bill, state legislators are reminding Gov. Ned Lamont they have significant role in disbursing federal coronavirus relief.

How does the public option bill differ from Gov. Ned Lamont’s health care plan? Here’s a look at the two proposals.
by Jenna Carlesso

With the rising cost of care a central issue this legislative session, lawmakers and Gov. Ned Lamont’s administration have each moved ahead with their own plans aimed at driving down prices.

Support Our Work

Show your love for great stories and outstanding journalism.

$
Select One
  • Monthly
  • Yearly
  • Once
Artpoint painter
CT ViewpointsCT Artpoints
Opinion Assisted suicide lobby spreads falsehoods to promote systemic ableism
by Stephen Mendelsohn

Proponents of assisted suicide repeatedly spread falsehoods to promote their lethal and ableist agenda.  The February 8 op-ed, “Aid in dying is not assisted suicide” is no exception. Suicide is defined as the act of taking one’s life intentionally.  The person who intentionally ingests a prescribed lethal overdose more closely fits the dictionary definition of suicide than the despondent person who jumps off a bridge.  The desire for suicide is a cry for help, even when redefined as a “medical treatment option.”

Opinion TCI will create a fourth gasoline tax
by Christian A. Herb

The Transportation Climate Initiative, or TCI, calls for a proposed emissions fee on gasoline to help battle climate change. On the surface, supporters say it is a small price to pay to help save the planet; and if you truly believe that this is the case, then you should consider voting for it. Despite the administration’s efforts to go out of their way to not call TCI a tax, the simple truth is that it will only create additional financial hardships on lower- and middle-income families struggling to make ends meet during the pandemic.

Opinion Let’s keep telehealth when the pandemic ends
by Steven Madonick, MD

Telehealth may lead to positive, even transformational changes in psychiatric care, and Connecticut needs to keep it after the pandemic. Connecticut needs to pass the necessary laws to continue telehealth and telephonic care.

Opinion The public health bill no one is talking about, but should be
by Brian Festa

On February 16,  the legislature's Public Health Committee conducted a public hearing on two bills, S.B. 568 and H.B. 6423, both of which would eliminate the religious exemption to mandatory vaccinations for Connecticut schoolchildren.  The hearing was capped at 24 hours, depriving nearly 1,500 members of the public who had registered for the hearing their opportunity to be heard.  The vast majority of those who did testify, and who submitted written testimony, opposed the bill.  The committee is expected to vote on the bill as early as  today. 

Artwork Grand guidance
by Anne:Gogh

In a world of systemic oppression aimed towards those of darker skintones – representation matters. We are more than our equity elusive environments, more than numbers in a prison and much more than victims of societal dispositions. This piece depicts a melanated young man draped in a cape ascending high above multiple forms of oppression. […]

Artwork Shea
by Anthony Valentine

Shea is a story about race and social inequalities that plague America. It is a narrative that prompts the question, “Do you know what it’s like to wake up in new skin?”

Artwork The Declaration of Human Rights
by Andres Chaparro

Through my artwork I strive to create an example of ideas that reflect my desire to raise social consciousness, and cultural awareness. Jazz music is the catalyst to all my work, and plays a major influence in each piece of work.”

Artwork ‘A thing of beauty. Destroy it forever’
by Richard DiCarlo | Derby

During times like these it’s often fun to revisit something familiar and approach things with a different slant. I have been taking some Pop culture and Art masterpieces and applying the vintage 1960’s and 70’s classic figures (Fisher Price, little people) to the make an amusing pieces. Here is my homage to Fisher -Price, Yellow […]

Twitter Feed
A Twitter List by CTMirror

Engage

  • Reflections Tickets & Sponsorships
  • Events
  • Donate
  • Newsletter Sign-Up
  • Submit to Viewpoints
  • Submit to ArtPoints
  • Economic Indicator Dashboard
  • Speaking Engagements
  • Commenting Guidelines
  • Legal Notices
  • Contact Us

About

  • About CT Mirror
  • Announcements
  • Board
  • Staff
  • Sponsors and Funders
  • Donors
  • Friends of CT Mirror
  • History
  • Financial
  • Policies
  • Strategic Plan

Opportunity

  • Advertising and Sponsorship
  • Speaking Engagements
  • Use of Photography
  • Work for Us

Go Deeper

  • Steady Habits Podcast
  • Economic Indicator Dashboard
  • Five Things

The Connecticut News Project, Inc. 1049 Asylum Avenue, Hartford, CT 06105. Phone: 860-218-6380

© Copyright 2021, The Connecticut News Project. All Rights Reserved. Website by Web Publisher PRO