Customer Spotlight: Louisiana’s New System for Food Stamps

The State of Louisiana is no stranger to natural disasters. In recent years, Louisiana has endured tornados, severe storms, flooding, fires and powerful hurricanes. After Hurricane Katrina, followed by Hurricane Gustav, Louisiana recognized the huge need to streamline services in an effort to reduce fraud and provide more efficient and effective services to citizens dealing with the aftermath of a natural disaster.

Faced with severe issues in their hurricane response and recovery efforts as a result of limited federal funds, local budget cuts, and an impaired infrastructure, Louisiana’s Department of Social Services (DSS) embarked on a project to improve service delivery to state residents. The project took an enterprise approach, pulling all DSS functions into one user-friendly platform and allowing citizens to screen and access government services in their time of need. The ability to pre-screen for eligibility through Louisiana’s new self-service portal reduces wait time at government relief sites.

As a part of the enterprise transformation, Louisiana made significant process improvements. Moving forward, they will have the ability to verify citizens’ identities using onsite license scanners, eliminate duplicate food stamp entries by scanning cards, confirm the status of first time applicants by communicating directly with neighboring states, and reducing fraud with a separation of duties for intake and verification individuals.

As Louisiana prepares to go live with new processes and software by 2009’s hurricane season, WBRZ News 2’s Dana Hackett caught up with Kristy Nichol, the Secretary for Louisiana’s Department of Social Services to give an exclusive look at how the new system works and how it has transformed the way Louisiana serves its public.

To view the News 2 video coverage, click here.