A Healthy Transition

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The state of Michigan is a recognized leader in IT innovation. This is largely due to the work of e-Michigan, a statewide initiative to deliver electronic services to citizens and standardize technology used by government agencies.

One challenge e-Michigan seeks to address is the inability of older stand-alone systems to deliver online transactions and business functions to constituents. Intelligent document technology is a powerful tool for linking together and lending new functionality to outdated, disparate systems. MIChild, a program operated by the Michigan Department of Community Health, shows how an intelligent document strategy improves constituent services and strengthens mission-critical business operations for agencies.

Traditionally human services agencies are among the most hampered by stovepipes and data silos. Millions of people's daily lives rely on intricate benefits programs that must run smoothly and effectively despite their complex design. The Adobe Intelligent Document Platform is helping transform the way Michigan residents access MIChild by making the program function better -- for citizens and government agencies.

Easy Access
MIChild provides health insurance and related benefits to children of needy families. Like many state-run social services programs, MIChild was a victim of legacy processes that fell short of meeting modern business requirements. Adobe solutions helped the agency create a secure, Web-based system that allows citizens and business partners to conduct transactions with efficiency and accuracy.

Services such as MIChild are key to improving citizens' access to state benefit programs, according to e-Michigan Director Jim Hogan.

"In the human services area, specifically, we wanted to have an easy-to-use application process on the Internet for folks to apply for children's health care," he said. "This is the focus of e-Michigan. We want to accelerate the implementation of online customer services and make them available 24/7."

For MIChild, Michigan took an innovative approach. Many of the people most in need of state assistance do not have routine Internet access. So instead of building a generic Web portal, Michigan targeted the assistive agencies that directly reach families.

"We decided the audience for the application wasn't the families themselves," Hogan explained. "Instead, we found that agencies like the Salvation Army, community action agencies, schools -- the places where families spend time -- were the places that were helping families find out if they might be eligible for benefits.

"Our target audience is those assistive agencies because we know not all of our citizens are connected to the Internet. But we knew many of the touch-points families do interface with are connected to the Internet. So we built a common application for families to come in and apply for children's health care."

Traditionally, families applying for children's health care went through a process that could take up to four months for approval. This was due to people filling out paperwork incorrectly, making errors in calculations or a combination of both.

Today, the state uses Adobe technology to create a form that asks a series of questions to determine if a person is eligible for benefits. Citizens who are eligible for MIChild services visit an assistive agency and file for aid electronically by filling out a simple, online form. The form automatically locates nearby health-care providers based on ZIP codes and presents the applicant with provider options. Once complete, the form is submitted securely and in real-time, and the data is merged into an official form, which the citizen receives as a PDF. The PDF then serves as an official document used as proof of eligibility when visiting, for instance, a health-care provider.

The results? By implementing an intelligent document strategy that automates eligibility processes, those four months have been reduced, incredibly, to 30 minutes or less.

Perhaps even more astonishing is that with absolutely no advertising, 200 families managed to find and complete these forms within the first week.

Faster Reimbursements
Another service delivered through MIChild is a state-subsidized day-care program. Michigan has a network of day-care centers, group homes and family homes that provide child care for eligible families. Many people in Michigan take advantage of this service, and e-Michigan moved to improve it. The goal was to streamline administrative functions for those running the child-care facilities.

Traditionally, facility managers faced a paper-intensive process for getting reimbursed by the state. And frequent manual calculation errors caused long delays -- delays that could threaten the facilities' operations.

"Rather than having providers mail in paper all the time to receive a check from the state, we wanted to make it easier for them," said Hogan. "So we instituted electronic billing, where they could use the Internet or telephone to send us billing information."

Adobe LiveCycle Designer software allowed e-Michigan to design an interactive, logical form that lets providers complete forms online. This solution allows day-care providers to simply access an online, prepopulated form. Care providers need only enter the number of hours of care they provided, and the software automatically validates the information.

The form notifies users if they enter data that is outside the boundaries prescribed by law. In addition, almost any program alteration can be made online using the form. If additional children join a care provider's roster, for example, the provider simply inputs the number of children into the form and clicks a submit button. The data is sent securely to MIChild in real-time where it is processed and a check is generated. The process is entirely automated. Now, instead of the usual six or seven weeks it took to get a check, providers receive payment in as little as two days.

"One of the common complaints we were getting was that every other week, facilities had to send us billing information about the kids that were in care," said Hogan. "We had an error rate of nearly 25 percent because people added up the care hours incorrectly. We had to send the billing information back to them to resubmit correctly. It was a long cycle. But by making it available on the Internet, we addressed the issue of helping them get timely payments, and we designed the forms with built-in logic that checks the math so they don't have to."

Better Efficiency and Security
Anyone who has completed multiple government forms knows the frustration of being asked repeatedly for identical information. This new approach allows MIChild to prepopulate online forms with routine information, while maintaining privacy and security.

"People kept asking us, 'Why do we need to keep telling you the same information? You know who and where we are.' So we told them they no longer need to," said Hogan. "We created user IDs and passwords for them. Now they can access a secure site and find forms prepopulated with facility information as well as information about the children in their care."

The Adobe solutions make it possible for MIChild to deliver interactive service anytime, anywhere, while protecting the privacy of the information. Agencies and end-users alike benefit from increased convenience, speed and flexibility.

"Internally we've had some big benefits," said Hogan. "Our cycle times have improved, and we no longer have to spend so much time reviewing forms and correcting errors. With a reduced staff and budget, these solutions have really helped. Our end-users are very happy with being able to file electronic billing statements. They are getting payments much faster."

With the success of MIChild, Hogan and e-Michigan are looking forward to bringing more of the state's 100 most frequently used forms online soon.

Keeping thousands of children healthy and safe is a difficult, important job. Innovative solutions based on the Adobe Intelligent Document Platform help MIChild do just that by delivering interactive government that is secure, flexible and intelligent.