AUSTIN - Border lawmakers say the decision by Health and Human Services Commissioner Albert Hawkins to terminate the state’s $899 million contract with Accenture was long overdue.

“Ya era tiempo (it's about time). I called on state leaders last summer to cancel this contract because the private company was simply not getting the job done,” said Sen. Juan ‘Chuy’ Hinojosa, D-McAllen.

Hinojosa called the Accenture deal a “botched” contract that failed to adequately perform its function of determining who qualifies for such vital health and human services as food stamps and children’s health insurance.

Hawkins announced Tuesday that his agency would begin winding down the contract with Accenture’s Texas Access Alliance and transition day-to-day management of CHIP operations and call centers back to state staff.

Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, said with the decision did not come as a surprise, “considering the problems that have plagued Texas health services for years.”

She pointed out that since the initiation of the Accenture contract independent audits, investigations by the Comptroller's staff, and reports from eligible persons who were denied services revealed Accenture's growing list of problems.

“Throughout the contract's span, enrollment in CHIP and Children's Medicaid experienced sharp declines due to Accenture's mismanagement of records and documentation,” Zaffirini said.

“Accenture continuously was behind schedule in updating records and organizing call centers, resulting in the names of children and persons eligible for state social services literally disappearing from enrollment data. What's more, the Comptroller's investigation revealed that Accenture constantly was over budget.”

Zaffirini said she was saddened to learn of the recent death of Devante Johnson, a 14-year old cancer patient who was dropped “indefensibly” from Medicaid enrollment. She said it demonstrated the extreme crisis afflicting the state's Medicaid and CHIP eligibility system.

“I truly hope that the ensuing transition from Accenture's contract does not further disrupt and prevent persons from seeking health services eligibility,” Zaffirini said.

Zaffirini pointed out she had repeatedly expressed concerns “and ardent opposition” to privatizing important social and health services, which was one of the reasons she voted against House Bill 2292 in 2003.

“Today's announcement sends a clear message that Texas no longer will tolerate unnecessary and unreasonable gaps that tremendously hinder access to state health services for children and low-income families,” Zaffirini said.

Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso, has been a vocal critic of the Accenture contract and penned a recent editorial titled ‘Heck of a Job” that took Hawkins to task over his handling of HHSC.

“When essential government functions are privatized, ask the question: Who gets the money? Here is a case where face-to-face interviews with human beings were turned into call centers,” Shapleigh said. “The concept here was flawed. Now we've paid the price.”

Shapleigh pointed to a report then-Texas Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn issued in October 2006 which showed that since Accenture began operations on December 1, 2005, CHIP enrollment had plunged by 8.5 percent or 27,567 children through August 2006. The report also found that Medicaid enrollment had dropped 2.9 percent or 53,937 children in the same timeframe.

“Evidence shows that some children were inaccurately denied benefits but were in fact eligible,” Strayhorn wrote. “In addition, I found that rather than saving money in this biennium, this contract will cost the state almost $100 million more than budgeted while fewer children and families receive the needed benefits."

Strayhorn concluded: “This project has failed the state and the citizens it was designed to serve. The contract with Accenture must be ended.”

Shapleigh said with Tuesday’s announcement, HHSC had corrected an error suffered by the children of Texas. “Children should never be privatized,” Shapleigh added.

Sen. Carlos Uresti, D-San Antonio, said he heard hours of testimony “about the human suffering caused by this troubled project, including accounts of system errors that led to seriously ill children losing health care coverage” when he chaired the House Committee on Government Reform.

Uresti said he regretted that so many Texans suffered as the state implemented policies and systems “that seemed designed to prevent access to services” rather than to facilitate it.

“I hope this experience has provided a lesson for policymakers in our state: we should always proceed cautiously when we deal with our most fragile and when we deal with our most fragile and vulnerable populations,” Uresti said.

Rep. Abel Herrero, D-Robstown, was recently named chair of a House subcommittee charged with investigating HHSC's Integrated Eligibility and TIERS programs. Herrero said that at the first meeting last week, the subcommittee learned of many previously-unknown deficiencies in the implementation, integration, and delivery of services.

“It's no coincidence that today's announcement to begin transitioning Accenture out of the social services delivery business occurred so soon after the establishment of our subcommittee charged with investigating the very issues that seem to have prompted the contract's termination,” Herrero said.

“We knew through much subcommittee testimony that Accenture and its subcontractors were not meeting performance standards, and that Texas taxpayers were not receiving the promised fiscal savings as a result of the privatization effort.”

Rep. Juan Garcia, D-Corpus Christi, said he heard many of the horrors associated with Accenture’s eligibility system while on the campaign trail last year.

“At every stop we heard from folks frustrated with the re-enrollment period, the re-enrollment fee - $50 a crack accumulates fast – and with misfiled paperwork and unanswered phone calls,” Garcia said.

"We heard it so often that the very first thing we did when I got elected was to hold a single parent summit. We addressed folks’ frustration with child health care and CHIP enrollment.”

Garcia said he particularly remembers an Ingleside resident tell of her experience with CHIP. A widow and a nurse, with two children, the resident had just been awarded a pay raise by her boss. This resulted in her annual salary going $4 over the CHIP ceiling.

“She had to go back to her boss and say thank you for the confidence expressed in me but I can’t afford to take this promotion. Obviously, that’s not how the system is supposed to work,” Garcia said.

“People also told me how frustrated they were at seeing Texas taxpayers’ dollars go to other states who had maintained their enrollment in the CHIP program, while our rolls fell off. I think history will show that in this case, the decision to privatize has been a huge, cataclysmic mistake.”

Senator Hinojosa said perhaps now Texas families would begin to receive the high-quality, low-cost public services they deserve. He pointed out that Tuesday’s announcement follows more than a year of mounting evidence that Accenture was failing to adequately provide the services it was required to under the agreement.

Hinojosa said a new computer system never worked properly, leaving tens of thousands of Texans without Medicaid, food stamps, and family assistance benefits for which they were eligible.

“I have heard from numerous families and providers in my district that this privatization of health and human services was simply not working. Families were left without vital health care services and providers were left with a bureaucratic mess,” Hinojosa said. “I hope we can get back on track and Texans can once again receive these vital services in a timely and efficient manner.”

Sen. Eddie Lucio, D-Brownsville, said the pathway to the privatization of key health services was paved in 2003 with the passage of HB 2292, which directed HHSC to save as much money as possible and provided them with the flexibility needed to outsource key functions.

“I voted against HB 2292 because I did not feel that the administration of programs like CHIP and Medicaid should be subjected to uncertainty. When it comes to basic human rights like child health, people must come first,” Lucio said.

“Since its inception, problems with the contract have been constant. Families across the state were told their CHIP applications were lost, children were left unable to visit the doctor and no one accepted accountability. When it comes to health and human services and our children, privatization should never work in concert with spending reductions.”

Lucio said state employees have a long and proven track record for providing high quality and effective services.