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srnrt N <br />0 <br />d s <br />North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services <br />Division of Social Services <br />Pat McCrory Aldona Z. Wos, M.D. <br />Governor Ambassador (Ret.) <br />Secretary DHHS <br />Wayne E. Black <br />Division Director <br />September 16, 2013 <br />Mr. Ben Rose, Director <br />Cabarrus County Department of Social Services <br />1303 S. Cannon Blvd. <br />Kannapolis, NC 28083 <br />Dear Ben, <br />With the rollout of North Carolina Families Accessing Services through Technology (NC FAST), county departments of social <br />services continue to experience the largest transformation to service delivery in many years. The NC FAST tool will move North <br />Carolina toward a world of integrated case management. <br />With a food and nutrition services caseload that has increased by more than fifty percent over the past five years, DHHS is aware of <br />the concerns Cabarrus County faces with implementing NC FAST Project 1, Food and Nutrition Services. Providing timely benefits to <br />families while learning to navigate this new integrated system can be challenging for staff, but it is imperative that families receive <br />their benefits in a timely manner. <br />DHHS is dedicated to making NC FAST a success in your county. As was noted by DHHS Secretary Wos previously, there are <br />several factors that have helped counties be successful with this implementation. Some of these include: <br />Hiring temporary staff and overtime authorization which is usually needed for several months and is critical to the success of <br />processing applications in a timely manner and addressing pre - existing case backlogs and maintain effective processing <br />capacity. <br />Ensuring there is a supportive and responsive county IT presence that stays engaged with the local DSS as the county <br />transitions to NC FAST is crucial. <br />Ensuring that all DSS computers meet NC FAST software and hardware requirements so DSS staff are able to key <br />transactions at a speed required to hit established performance measures. <br />Due to the critical need for families to receive timely benefits, the department recommends bringing on additional temporary staff as <br />soon as possible. Additional staff would have the greatest impact for reducing the backlog of work and managing on -going caseloads <br />in Cabarrus County. <br />Please feel free to contact me if you need any further assistance. <br />Sincerely, <br />Z <br />Dean Simpson, Chief <br />Economic and Family Services <br />Economic and Family Services <br />www.nedhhs.gov • www.nedhhs.gov /dss <br />Tel 919 -527 -6300 • Fax 919 -334 -1265 <br />Location: Hargrove Building/Dix Campus • 820 S. Boylan Avenue • Raleigh, NC 27603 <br />Mailing Address: 2420 Mail Service Center • Raleigh, NC 27699 -2420 <br />•����'•\ Attachment number 1 <br />An Equal Opportunity /Affirmative Action Employer <br />E -1 Page 58 <br />