New Rhode Island benefit computer system riddled with problems

hhs-roberts

by Anita Baffoni, WPRO News

The state’s new computer system, United Health Infrastructure Project (UHIP), is having problems, affecting thousands of people in Rhode Island that use the system which controls social services. The Health and Human Services Secretary Elizabeth Roberts says resolving the issues are their top priority.

“It is a big complicated system and in the private sector or public sector, these always have issues when they first launch,” Roberts said Friday in a press conference. “These are some of the most vulnerable people in our state and we take their needs very seriously and it’s been a top focus on a daily basis to make sure we are doing the best we can to resolve the issues that are there and continue to serve more than 300,000 people.”

The $364 million dollar system was rolled out September 13 and is causing many issues, including the payment of Supplemental Security Income (SSI) checks, SNAP recipients not receiving their food stamps and problems with Medicaid enrollees. However, Roberts says most of the issues have since been resolved.

Two percent of the state’s child care providers were not paid on time and Roberts says the department is working on resolving those issues as soon as possible.

Department of Human Services Director Melba DePena Affigne says the issues are “a perfect storm,” stemming from increased traffic and glitches from the roll out.

“It was the perfect storm. The beginning of the month which traditionally is a high traffic time for us even with the old system where everyone was comfortable and workers could process an application in minutes, combined with the SSI payment that didn’t go into the account so we had an increase of traffic of families coming in,” DePena Affigne said.

About 29,000 SSI recipients did not receive their checks, totaling $39.92 per person, but have since been made, DePena Affigne says.

She says she has authorized overtime during the week and on Saturday and working to minimize long waits experienced by customers with the possibility of extending customer service hours.

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