Help a click awayLAST MONTH Governor Romney introduced the state's "virtual gateway" to human services, an Internet tool that should make it easier to access social services. It's a welcome innovation. Talk of streamlining human services had gone on to little effect for years. The virtual gateway cost $8 million to develop and will take an estimated $1.2 million a year to maintain -- a modest and sound investment.
Still, even the best tools must be monitored to make sure that they are effective, comprehensive, and used correctly. The first phase of the virtual gateway focuses on nutrition, health insurance, and child care. As officials at the Executive Office of Health and Human Services built it, a guiding principle was to tame the bureaucracy so people can focus on their needs. This might include finding a home or a job or recovering from domestic violence or substance abuse. Romney sees it as knocking down the "silos" that have divided agencies and diminished their effectiveness. The virtual gateway can be used by individuals who want to see what programs they may be eligible for or by "registered providers" -- the first few include Massachusetts General Hospital and St. Francis House, a day program for the homeless -- who can help clients by submitting one electronic application for multiple programs. The state should stick to its plans to introduce major updates each year and smaller components as needed. Officials expect the gateway to include more programs and services by March. And 100 human service providers should be able to submit applications for clients. Emerging plans for next year's major update include adding programs that serve veterans and the elderly -- a wise approach given the state's growing elderly population. Other services should be added quickly, including welfare benefits and substance abuse programs. The gateway should also be aggressively used for tracking and research so that the state can answer the basic human services question: How are we doing? Officials are working on a homelessness management information system. Tracking homeless people makes sense because many are likely to need multiple state services, and data should reveal how well these services succeed in helping people rebuild their lives. Customer service must be scrupulously monitored. In a few months the online gateway is scheduled to get a feedback button that providers can use to tell the state how the gateway is working. Providers should report aggressively, keeping the state accountable. And a similar feedback button should be created for individual users.
The state should operate the gateway effectively, creating a model of how technology can make human services more humane. © Copyright 2004 Globe Newspaper Company.
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