ACS Showcases Oklahoma's Award Winning e-Childcare Program
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DALLAS, March 12 / -- Affiliated Computer Services, Inc. (NYSE:ACS), a premier provider of business process outsourcing and information technology solutions, today outlined the key components and best practices of launching the award winning e-Childcare® Solution for the State of Oklahoma's Department of Human Services (OKDHS) at the inaugural Automated Child Care Conference.
Since it was implemented in September 2003, the e-Childcare program has saved the State about a million dollars a month -- or 10 percent -- through direct program costs and policy changes and allowed childcare providers to spend more time serving children and less time completing paper claims for the subsidized child care program. The program is currently being used for almost 42,000 children in 4,300 daycare centers throughout the State. The March 11-12 conference attracted 30 states and four territories to Oklahoma City to learn more about the system.
"The State was facing a challenge of accurately recording the proper information to verify attendance and then ensuring child care providers were paid quickly for their services," said Lisa Henley, project manager for OKDHS. "We partnered with ACS and we were able to develop and implement a world-class child care time and attendance system."
The e-Childcare time and attendance solution uses point-of-sale (POS) terminals in daycare centers where parents can swipe their State-issued cards providing child care staff and participating families with a real-time method of confirming eligibility for subsidized care, determining any required co-payments, and performing automated attendance and payment functions. "It only takes a few seconds during the daily check-in and check-out process but it helps busy parents and removes a cumbersome verification and invoicing process for child care providers," said Dave Schneider, project manager for ACS' electronic benefits program. "The system also removes the chance of improper payments stemming from either human error or poor record keeping."
The benefits of the e-Childcare system were clear:
o Families could conveniently use their cards to quickly check-in/
check-out with additional paperwork. The POS terminal immediately
informs the provider and the parent what co-pay, if any, is required.
o Providers have instant notification of eligibility information and
confirmation of remittance.
o The e-Childcare program automatically calculates provider payments
based on attendance, eliminating all paperwork associated with
invoicing.
o A real-time electronic attendance record serves as an automatic audit
reducing the labor involved in auditing invoices and verifying time and
attendance after the fact.
The State, childcare providers, and parents immediately began to realize the advantages to the system:
o The cycle time between invoice submittal and provider payment decreased
from six weeks to five business days. With online invoice
verification, providers avoid invoicing and payment errors and delays.
o The invoicing system automatically calculates the payment. Providers
and OKDHS officials are no longer required to spend time calculating
total payments.
o Oklahoma used program savings to make a significant investment in
provider quality and training initiatives designed to reward
high-quality providers with increased payment rates, thereby improving
access to quality care for participating families.
ACS, a global FORTUNE 500 company with 58,000 people supporting client operations reaching 100 countries, provides business process outsourcing and information technology solutions to world-class commercial and government clients. The company's Class A common stock trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "ACS." ACS makes technology work. Visit ACS on the Internet at www.acs-inc.com.
FCMN Contact: jon.puckett@acs-inc.com
Source: ACS, Inc.
CONTACT:
Media, Lesley Pool, Senior Vice President, Chief Marketing Officer,
+1-214-841-8028, lesley.pool@acs-inc.com, of Affiliated Computer
Services, Inc.
Web site: www.acs-inc.com
