WIC EBT Feasibility Study and Cost‐Benefit Analysis

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Virginia Department of Health WIC EBT Feasibility Study and Cost-Benefit Analysis 3.1.2.2 Virginia Information Technology Agency (VITA) When the WIC Operations Team determines that local agencies require new or replacement FI printers, the Technology Team is instructed to order the equipment from VITA. VITA purchases the printers and manages the maintenance and warranties for the printers. This service is performed for a fee based on the cost of the equipment. Printers are shipped directly from the equipment contractor to the local clinic and are not handled by VITA staff. Purchasing and shipping services are provided for a fee that is added into the cost assessed for the printers. 3.1.2.3 Marketing Support Solutions VDH purchases WIC ID Folders, protective plastic sleeves and client and retailer training materials and ships them to Marketing Support Solutions (MSS) for storage until needed by the State or local clinics. With the participant’s signature, WIC ID Folders serve as the participant’s identification when redeeming FIs at a retail location. The folder is designed to store the FIs until they are redeemed at a store. The back of the folder has an area for clinic staff to enter the next appointment date and time. Plastic sleeves are given to participants in most, but not all local clinics. The sleeve is a plastic bag with a standard zip closure, intended to protect the WIC ID Folder and FIs. 3.2 STATE SYSTEM WICNET is the primary automated system used by the Virginia WIC Program, providing ondemand FI printing for local clinics. WICNET performs the following functions and captures and tracks the associated data: • Participant, caretaker and legal guardian visit scheduling • Participant, caretaker and legal guardian and authorized proxy registration and certification • Food instrument generation, including generating a unique serial number and issuance record • Financial and infant formula rebates and billing data When changes to the system are required – for example, if a food package needs to be updated – the Technical Team’s business unit captures all required functional, data, system changes, etc., and relays these changes to OIM. OIM contractors then use the requirements definition to design, develop, test and implement the changes in WICNET. At the same time Virginia is conducting e-WIC pre-planning activities, the Commonwealth is also participating in a WIC Program State Agency Model (SAM) Project. Called Crossroads SAM, member States include Virginia, Alabama, West Virginia and North Carolina, which is also the lead State of the consortium. Crossroads SAM’s objective is to plan for, develop and implement a model WIC information system providing modules for all functional areas of the WIC Program. When deployed, the Crossroads SAM system will be EBT-ready. As this project is in the planning phase, with a goal of implementation by December 31, 2010, Virginia has a distinct opportunity to leverage the SAM system development to accommodate the alternative selected as part of this feasibility process. 40 V 1.2 August 20, 2008 Appendix B: Baseline Analysis
Virginia Department of Health WIC EBT Feasibility Study and Cost-Benefit Analysis 3.3 WIC LOCAL AGENCIES AND LOCAL CLINICS There are 35 local agencies and 152 local clinics (with four or more participants) in Virginia. Local agencies oversee local clinics; they are sometimes, but not always co-located with a local clinic. 3.3.1 LOCAL AGENCIES Most local agencies oversee clinics with a total participant count of between 2,000 and 5,000 participants. Figure 4 provides a graph indicating the number of participants within each of the 35 local agency regions. The outlier is Fairfax County, which has six local clinics and an average of 16,656 participants during the assessment year. Number of Participants 18000 16000 14000 12000 10000 8000 6000 4000 2000 0 Participants by Region 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 Represents One Agency FIGURE 4: PARTICIPANT NUMBERS FOR LOCAL AGENCIES Local agencies perform a range of services, but the service specifically related to the paper-based process is ensuring their local clinics have sufficient blank stock for issuing FIs. Once the quarterly stock order is received at the local agency it is distributed to local clinics. Blank stock was reported to be delivered to clinics through three different channels. 1) By giving the stock to a County courier who regularly visits clinics or other county offices throughout the region. This service comes at no additional cost to the agency, as it leverages an existing transportation service. 2) By hand carrying stock when agency or clinic staff visit other clinics. Some regions operate small clinics, and have set up arrangements such as staff working at one clinic in the morning and the neighboring clinic in the afternoon. Vouchers can be transported by staff conducting normal business travel. This service comes at no additional cost to the agency. 3) Staff driving to another clinic, specifically for the purpose of delivering blank stock. This is done when there is no other means available. In Henrico County, which is both the local agency and the location of one of the local clinics, it is done almost immediately because they lack sufficient space to store the other clinic’s vouchers. This service comes at a cost of time spent 41 V 1.2 August 20, 2008 Appendix B: Baseline Analysis
Page 1 and 2: Virginia Department of Health Divis
Page 3 and 4: Virginia Department of Health WIC E
Page 41: Virginia Department of Health WIC E
Page 71 and 72: E‐WIC COST BENEFIT ANALYSIS IN SU
Page 73 and 74: VIRGINIA DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH STATE
Page 75 and 76: Categories OPERATIONS DURING IMPLEM
Page 77 and 78: E‐WIC Cost‐Benefit Analysis SUM
Page 79 and 80: VIRGINIA DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH PAPER
Page 85 and 86: VIRGINIA DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH E‐W
Page 87 and 88: VIRGINIA DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH E‐W
Page 89 and 90: ONE YEAR ESTIMATED LOCAL AGENCY AND
Page 91 and 92: ESTIMATED MATERIALS AND SERVICES CO
Page 93 and 94:
ESTIMATED MATERIALS AND SERVICES CO
Page 95 and 96:
Materials Description Unit Cost 1 T
Page 97 and 98:
VIRGINIA DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH BENEF
Page 99 and 100:
A B C D E BENEFITS F G H I J K L Pa
show all

WIC EBT Feasibility Study and Cost‐Benefit Analysis

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?