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This message is being sent to SSP, APD, Type B AAA, VEC, Central/Shared and OEP. If you do not need this message, please disregard.
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Huddle Topics and Reminders |
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Fall brings a particularly busy time for people who work on medical, food, cash and child care benefit eligibility. This year is proving to be busier than ever before. The unwinding of the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency just passed the halfway point, a waitlist is now in place for the Employment Related Day Care (ERDC) program, and Medicare and Marketplace open enrollment periods have opened. These events are bringing more than the usual requests for help into our offices and on our phones. The Oregon Department of Human Services (ODHS) Director’s Office recognizes the historic amount of work we’re handling. It recently named ONE customer service a department priority so it can deploy extra supports to help us through the next several months.
Making ONE customer service a department priority means a temporary plan is being put in place to bring resources from across the agency to support us. Those resources will be aligned with goals to reduce wait times and make sure benefits are delivered accurately and timely to the people we serve. You may hear this effort described as an “all-ODHS team” or “all hands-on deck” approach to ONE customer service. It’s recognition from the highest level of our department that we’re stretching our bandwidth as far as it can go and it’s time for a new approach for us to meet our shared goal of getting people connected to and keeping critical benefits.
While this effort launches, please keep in mind:
- We expect staff to take state holidays off like we normally do. Winter holidays are approaching, and we are starting to plan now for how we will balance staff leave with customer service.
- Priorities in our daily work may shift more often to meet the daily demand. We’ll keep shifting staff support to match where the most urgent and impactful need are so we can keep applications moving.
- Our integration of eligibility was designed to give people choice and convenience in how they interact with us. We need to make sure we’re staffed to meet in-person demand and maximizing every opportunity we have to reduce wait times for the ONE Customer Service Center.
I know everyone is working hard. I know we are tired. I also know our work – even in the toughest of situations – leads to well-being for people, families and our communities. This is a moment when we need to approach our work a bit differently and with some temporary supports to get the outcomes we all want for the people we serve. Together is the best way we will get through and you have my deepest gratitude for your continued perseverance and partnership.
The technical teams have identified the root cause of the system slowness and the red banner service errors. The root cause is related to a third-party platform that is outside of ONE. Deloitte and the Oregon Department of Human Services (ODHS) are working with the vendor to resolve the issue, scheduled for the end of November. Leadership is looking into other potential interim solutions to help alleviate some of the issues until the root issue is resolved.
As an update to previous guidance, workers should allow 30 minutes before attempting to rerun eligibility if either of the two service errors below are encountered.
 Additionally, if workers attempt to run eligibility too soon after the above errors are encountered, you will receive another error that says the case is currently in use by another user. This happens when eligibility is attempted again before the initial eligibility run is completed behind the scenes and will cause the case to be locked. Allowing 30 minutes before attempting to rerun eligibility will help to avoid this error.
 Please continue to submit CA tickets to the ONE Helpdesk if you are unable to overcome the red banners above. You can always try running EDBC for 1 program at a time or check back (skipping straight to the authorization screen) after about 30 min to see if eligibility was determined.
To expedite CA ticket process for these errors please title related CA tickets "Service Error - System Slowness" in your CA ticket submission. No template needs to be followed, please include case number and what service error text was received in the body of the ticket.
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On Saturday November 4, the Employment Related Day Care (ERDC) waitlist went into effect. As you communicate this change to families, please reference the ERDC waitlist toolkit on the OWL for a variety of helpful resources.
Talking points for eligibility workers, family coaches, and support staff now include two important reminders:
- Please encourage families to complete the full ERDC application process through data collection screens after the waitlist exemption screen in ONE. Though they will have already filled out the exemption screen, this will trigger the ONE system to search the family's record and see if there is an exemption that they didn't verbally report. The additional data collection will allow the Oregon Department of Early Learning and Care (DELC) to provide more targeted communications to families on the waitlist and reduce time when families on the waitlist are invited to apply for ERDC.
- Pause and check the date of request on all ERDC applications to make sure any families who apply by Friday, Nov. 3, 2023, at 11:59 p.m. are not subject to the waitlist. A quick pause could be the difference in a family receiving benefits and waiting a long time to be served.
Remember that you can point families to Oregon DELC ERDC for more information on ERDC and the waitlist. Thank you for supporting families through this change. You can submit your questions or requests for resources using this form.
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Paid Leave Oregon (PLO) is a new program from the Oregon Employment Department (OED) providing family, safety and medical leave along with employer assistance grants. Payments for eligible PLO requests began Sept. 3, 2023.
Each program treats PLO income differently, so please refer to the QRG Income for more information about how it should be entered in ONE. Each program also has differing rules about PLO verification and whether it is an asset that must be pursued. See the chart below for a comparison:
 Please note that although PLO is provided through OED, staff do not yet have access to view these payments in Frances Online. This means that you should not assume someone doesn’t have PLO just because it does not show in Frances Online. Until Frances Online can be updated to display PLO income, PLO verification may include things like PLO approval letters, Frances printouts from OED or bank statements however for all programs except medical, bank statements are not acceptable verification. Please check with policy teams if you have questions about whether a verification is sufficient.
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The Senior Health Insurance Benefits Assistance (SHIBA) program has a network of certified counselors to help people enroll into Medicare, choose a Medigap or Medicare Advantage plan, and choose a prescription drug plan that meets their needs.
SHIBA does not offer choice counseling to people who have Medicare and Oregon Health Plan (OHP). The Oregon Department of Human Services (ODHS) is responsible to provide Medicare choice counseling to people who have Medicare and OHP. Do not refer people who have Medicare and OHP to SHIBA for Medicare choice counseling.
Follow the instructions in the Complete Medicare – Medicaid Choice Counseling QRG to provide choice counseling to people who are dual eligible for Medicare and Medicaid. Eligibility staff should also support people with only a Medicare Savings Program (MSP) enroll in Part D prescription coverage. There is more information about when to refer someone to SHIBA and how to enroll someone in a Part D plan in the QRG.
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The people we serve don’t always know what services are available to them – they just know they need help. It’s our role to connect them with the appropriate programs and resources. The process to connect them looks a little different depending on whether you’re working in a Virtual Eligibility Center (VEC), Self-Sufficiency Programs (SSP), Aging and People with Disabilities (APD), or Area Agency on Aging (AAA) office, and whether it’s an adult or child who’s applying.
When we enter “yes” to the long-term care questions on the Individual Information screen, ONE will generate a LTC Services Request task; what happens with that task differs depending on where you work. Please review the guidance posted to the OWL for more information.
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On Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2023, Portland Public School District teachers and staff went on strike. We know this may be a difficult time for families impacted by the strike and anticipate that Store Front Offices and Virtual Eligibility Center offices may experience an increase in people applying for SNAP, especially in the Portland Metro area.
As a reminder, individuals who receive SNAP benefits cannot receive increased benefits because of an income decrease due to participation in a strike. In addition, households with a member who is on strike are not eligible for SNAP benefits unless the household was eligible for benefits the day before the strike and is otherwise eligible at the time of application. This does not mean they had to apply prior to the strike, but it does mean SNAP will consider the income from the employment they would receive if they were not striking.
Additional information regarding benefits for people on strike can be found in OPEN on pages 241-242 and OAR 461-130-0328.
Please share the following food resources with households needing additional assistance:
For more information and resources, please review the article published in the November 2, edition of the Discover newsletter: Resources for ODHS staff and those ODHS works with impacted by the Portland Public Schools strike.
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The Applicant Portal (AP) tech team are experiencing an increase in calls transferred to the ONE online account help queue which is option 5. Please note, option 5 is no longer the questions about eligibility queue and people transferred will not reach an eligibility worker. This option changed in August 2023.
The new call center phone tree is now updated on the Virtual Eligibility Center (VEC) OWL page and can be located in the resource page under Worker Resources.
New
IBP 23-042 Processing SNAP With No Filing Date: A new important Interim Business Process (IBP) must be followed when processing requests for SNAP. Any time staff process a request for SNAP and no filing date has been established, make sure to follow the guidance outlined in the IBP.
As a reminder, the filing date marks the start date for SNAP benefits. Not establishing a filing date results in a delay of SNAP benefits, and less benefits once found eligible. Make sure to collect the signature and add a case note as soon as you are able to, per instructions found in the IBP and linked transmittal.
IBP 23-043 MMIS is not receiving eligibility segments for some individuals with dual medical (MSP + OSIPM) in ONE. MMIS is only showing the MSP benefit ongoing. This is causing issues with access to care, provider billing, and/or hearings. Until ONE is update, please follow steps in the IBP.
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