Transitional Assistance recognized with four Achievement Awards

The San Bernardino County Transitional Assistance Department (TAD) received four National Association of Counties (NACo) Achievement Awards for its enhanced Customer Service Center call queue, live web chat, continued Medi-Cal coverage during COVID-19 and the delivery of CalFresh Rights and Responsibilities information to customers. The department’s innovative approach to enhancing service delivery has afforded a more efficient, customer-friendly experience.

Customer Service Center Enhanced Call Queue

The TAD Customer Service Center (CSC) is a core component of the department, taking a large volume of inbound calls from customers regarding public assistance questions, case statuses and reporting changes. All calls are routed through the CSC, allowing district offices to focus on in-person customer contact and case actions. TAD determined the CSC could reach more county residents for time-sensitive or time-limited business, outside of routine public assistance, through the development of enhanced call queues. These queues can easily be turned on or off with customizable prompts and menus, enabling expedited access to services as needed. Enhanced queues grant the ability to quickly identify incoming calls that fall outside the regular scope of the CSC and require immediate attention. Specifically, these queues route calls received during times of emergency or other specialized events such as tax preparation services, to train employees who assist customers without waiting in queues with other business inquiries. This decreases or eliminates hold times, reduces office lobby traffic and centralizes contact for affected customers.

Live Web Chat Expansion with WEX Staff

The Transitional Assistance Department restructured its Live Web Chat support in July 2020 to be primarily staffed by subsidized Work Experience (WEX) participants, individuals engaged in temporary positions as part of the Welfare-to-Work (WTW) initiative within the county. Live Web Chat support is offered via the centralized Customer Service Center (CSC) for all TAD customers including California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs), CalFresh (California’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program [SNAP]) and/or Health Care Programs (HCPs). To successfully implement the Live Web Chat with the primary support of WEX staff, TAD refined the Live Web Chat function to address and support customers with technical issues rather than program-specific inquiries. This initiative reflects TAD’s commitment to optimizing service efficiency while ensuring a favorable customer experience and simultaneously fostering job training and growth opportunities for WEX staff.

Medi-Cal Public Health Emergency – Public Service Employees Program

In response to the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE) declared on March 13, 2020, healthcare benefit protections were provided to Medi-Cal customers to ensure continued medical coverage during the PHE. PHE protections paused TAD’s processing of Annual Re-Evaluations/Renewals (REs) and benefit discontinuances/negative actions. Congress later enacted the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023, ending the protections on Medi-Cal benefits. As a result, the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) released the Medi-Cal COVID-19 PHE and Continuous Coverage Operational Unwinding Plan to guide the department to resume normal business operations. The Continuous Coverage Operational Unwinding Plan ran through Aug. 31, 2024. In preparation for the Unwinding and anticipated workload impacts, TAD hired temporary Public Service Employees (PSEs) in July 2023 to provide office support to Medi-Cal eligibility staff to help ensure the completion of Medi-Cal actions needed during the Unwinding.

Pre-Recorded CalFresh Rights and Responsibilities

In January 2022, TAD developed a streamlined and standardized process for the delivery of mandatory Rights and Responsibilities (R&R) information to CalFresh program (California’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program [SNAP]) customers. The recorded R&Rs are accessible via phone or online and allow CalFresh customers, participating in both in-person and phone interviews, the option to listen to an audio version. These services have become increasingly crucial due to continued increases in CalFresh caseloads and align with the department’s aim to provide excellent customer service and uniform delivery of R&R information to all customers. Before the development of recorded R&Rs, staff verbally reviewed the CalFresh R&R with the primary customer, at each application and recertification interview.

For information on programs and services provided by TAD, please visit wp.sbcounty.gov/tad.

Additional County Update News – October 10, 2024