UIPL21-11ATT-C.pdf

ETA Advisory File Text

Attachment C Unemployment Insurance Program Integrity Action Plan State Name of state Federal Fiscal Year SQSP Planning Year Root Causes List top three of the root causes in the state. Accountable Agency Official s List the person accountable for reducing UI improper payments Summary Provide a summary of the plan that the state has designed. The summary should include outreach efforts planned by the agency to inform all UI and workforce staff and employers of the strategic plan to ensure everyone understands the importance of maintaining program integrity. Strategies Actions Targets and Milestones Resources List the strategies that the state is taking to address UI improper payments. List the specific action steps for each strategy that the state is taking. This section should be divided into target and milestones. Specific milestones should be set for each of the actions. It is suggested that the milestones be set quarterly under each target. Provide a description of the type resource e.g. human capital technology and other tools that have been designated to address the state s UI improper payments. Unemployment Insurance UI Program Integrity Action Plan Background On July 22 2010 the Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Act IPERA of 2010 P.L. 111-204 was enacted. IPERA requires federal agencies and entities rec eiving federal funding to ensure that their managers and accountable officers including the agency head programs and where applicable states and localities are held accountable for reduci ng improper payments. To implement the requirements of IPERA the Department is requiring State Workforce Agencies SWAs to report their planned activities to prevent detect reduce and r ecover improper UI payments as the Unemployment Insurance Program Integrity Action Plan. A recommended template for the plan has been developed and is included. The action plan s hould provide Strategies and associated actions to reduce root causes including recov ery of these improper payments Timeline expected targets and measures and Type and source of resources dedicated to accomplish the action plan. To assist the SWAs in planning the U.S. Department of Labor Department will provide each with state-specific Benefit Accuracy Measurement BAM improper payment estimates and data regarding the top root causes of overpayments. Program Integrity Action Plan Specifics The plan must identify the SWA officer s accountable for reducing improper payments summarize the SWA s assessment regarding whether it has the internal controls human capital and information systems and other infrastructure needed to reduce improper payments to minimal cost-effective levels and identify any statutory or regulatory barri ers which may limit the agencies corrective actions in reducing improper payments. Additionally the plan must discuss the root causes of improper payments and present the state s strategies to address these causes. A. Strategies to address Root Causes and Recovery of Improper Payments. The SWA shall use the BAM improper payment estimates provided by the Department to develop and describe their strategies to prevent detect and or reduce each root cause. Additionally the strategies will include actions to improve the recovery of these improper payments. To determine the root causes for improper payments each SWA needs to conduct an analysis of improper payments by reviewing Cause and responsible party Cause and prior actions by the agency employer and claimant and Cause and BAM error detection points. Other analysis may include SWA staffing issues technology tools used etc. 2 i Prevention. Prevention activities are by definition proactive. These are actions performed prior to payment issuance to assure that the payment is accurate when made. Examples of this type of activity include 1 Expanding the methods for communicating Benefit Rights and Responsibility Information BRI reviewing information layout and reading level and testing claimant understanding 2 Training employers and claimants on separation information requirements 3 Implementation of the State Information Data Exchange System SIDES designed to improve the quality and timeliness of separation information 4 Review of state law rules and regulations business processes and goal s that are concerned with employment service ES registration and align these elements to eliminate overpayments. Several business models exist which may help to eliminate ES Registration errors. Two of the most successful are outlined below a Claimant responsible for ES registration SWA stops payment if the claimant is not registered within 14 days of the initial claim. Weeks claimed or additional claims automatically maintain registration as active. b Agency responsible for ES registration SWA collects sufficient information during the initial claims process to register the claimant for services. This information is transmitted to Employment Services and the system shows an active registration 5 Use of Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlement SAVE and Social Security Administration Crossmatching 6 Working with a consortium of states improve the continued claims taking process Interactive Voice Response IVR and Internet design and flow logi c to better detect changes in employment status earnings to none within and between weekly certifications to prevent payments when separations issues occur. To prevent benefit year earnings reporting errors SWAs should ensure that the IVR or internet process clearly focuses first on employment status and then earnings in its series of questions asked -- for example Did you work during the week of mm dd yyyy How many hours did you work How much do you earn per hour 7 Focusing on the claimant s return to work date and earnings verification. If a claimant does not report work or hours after the return work date create a c all-in reporting requirement where the claimant has claimed a week after the return to work date and has not reported earnings 8 Staff evaluation and training such as an Expanded Benefit Timeliness and Quality adjudication evaluation program and issue training and 9 Assuring standardized fact-finding questions are used and completed for each issue type. 3 ii Detection. Detection activities occur subsequent to payment. These are actions that the state controls and usually involves crossmatch activities such as 1 National Directory of New Hire Crossmatching check crossmatch time parameters agency filters use mandatory call-ins if a week is claimed and no earnings are reported 2 Implement the recommended operating procedures for Crossmatching Activity National and State Directories of New Hires as outlined in the Unemployment Insurance Program Letter UIPL 19-11 National Effort to Reduce Improper Payments in the Unemployment Insurance UI Program 3 Wage Benefit Crossmatching check the pindex calculation to ensure that it reflects current earnings disregard standards run the wage benefit cros smatch for 9 consecutive weeks after the end of a quarter to distribute workload an d detect issues as soon as information is available 4 Implementation of SIDES to improve the quality and timeliness of separation and benefit year earnings information and to receive employer reported information in electronic format so earnings comparisons can be completed by the computer instead of Benefit Payment Control BPC personnel 5 Use of data mining to detect such disqualifying issues as multiple claimants at single address or phone number and 6 Use of predictive analysis to identify claims at high risk for overpayments. iii Reduction. Reduction activities are those actions which reduce the amount overpaid or the number of weeks overpaid and involve activities such as 1 Redesign of BPC workflow to reduce administrative activities 2 Using call-in and or automated required to report notices mail IVR email and Internet to raise BPC earnings issues quickly 3 Use of weighting strategies to prioritize detection workload and 4 Automating certain overpayment establishment decisions where the business process only requires earning adjustment notices. iv Recovery. SWAs will specify the actions they plan to take to recover overpayments and plans to improve the recovery of overpayments. See Unemployment Insurance Program Letter 33-99 Overpayment Recovery Technical Assistance Guide http www.oui.doleta.gov dmstree uipl uipl99 3399att 3399toc.htm . Examples of this would be 1 Redesign of the BPC overpayment recovery workflow process 4 2 Reduction of administrative activities and or automation of skip tracing and billing notices 3 Implementation of the federal Tax Offset Program TOP with the U.S. Department of the Treasury and 4 Implementation of a state Tax Offset Program. B. Targets and Timeline. When compiling its strategies to address improper payments agencies shall set targets for future improper payment levels and a timeline when the proposed strategies will be completed and within which the expected targets will be reached. States are encouraged to develop realistic multiyear initiatives. C. Resource Allocation The plan shall include a description of the type of resources such as human capital technology and other tools used to prevent detect reduce a nd recover improper payments. D. High Impact States ETA has collaborated with eleven states CA NY NJ NC OH MI WI FL TX IL and PA that have the greatest ability to impact and lower the UI improper payment rate to aggressively identify and implement strategies to bring down the UI improper payment rate and to provide leadership nationally to address this issue. A key centerpiece of the collaboration is that each state will form a cross-functional UI improper payment task force to both work on state specific strategies and to collabor ate across states to share best practices. As part of this initiative each of these eleven states is expected to develop and implement a state-specific strategic plan to bring down the state s improper payment rate as quickly as feasible. For the FY 2012 submission of the UI Program Integrity Action Plan these states may attach their state-specific strategic plan to this document including any additional information requested on the template above.