The Tennessean has a Sunday review of multtmillion-dollar computer problems that have plagued Tennessee state government. Here’s the list of impacted agencies:
TennCare: The agency scrapped a $37.5 million computer system earlier this year after multiple failures kept people with disabilities as well as pregnant women from enrolling. The failures earned a sharp rebuke from federal Medicaid officials and a federal lawsuit.
Department of Children’s Services: Under orders from a federal judge, the department has poured millions of dollars into fixing hundreds of glitches in a computer system launched in 2011 to track child welfare and abuse cases. The costs have soared to $38 million since then. The department told a federal judge earlier this year that the majority of problems have been fixed.
Department of Human Services: The Department of Human Services in 2013 scrapped a 7-year-old, $20 million computer software system that was intended to modernize how the agency processes food stamps and Medicaid caseloads.
Department of Revenue: Failures of a new computer system within the Department of Revenue intended to track car titles cost taxpayers $40 million after the department spent 10 years developing it before conceding in 2013 it showed no signs of ever working.
Department of Labor and Workforce Development: The department’s computer system problems contributed to an estimated $98 million in unemployment claim overpayments during the past six years — including checks issued to prisoners, dead people and state employees — and those overpayments could balloon to $171 million, according to the Tennessee comptroller. The department’s problems may not be fixed until 2016, when four-decade-old mainframes are scheduled to be replaced.
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