FRANKFORT, Ky. (May 10, 2004) - The Cabinet for Health and Family Services will save $345,792 a year by converting the way it produces reports to a more efficient system.

Reports for an automated system that tracks benefits and eligibility for public assistance programs will no longer be printed on paper but will be stored electronically.

            The cost-containment initiative is part of the cabinet’s response to Gov. Ernie Fletcher’s call to make government more efficient and reduce waste, fraud and abuse.

            “Our employees are on the look out for ways state government can save money and operate more efficiently,” said Duane L. Kilty Jr., Ph.D., the cabinet’s undersecretary for administrative and fiscal affairs. “We hope to have more projects like this.”

            The Kentucky Automated Management and Eligibility System - KAMES - used to print as many as several hundred reports each month.  These reports help workers handle their caseloads as well as monitor eligibility for assistance programs such as Medicaid, food stamps and temporary  assistance for needy families.

            The reports were printed each month at a cost of about $20,000. Other costs were incurred to store the reports on tape and to access old reports.

            Bob Brown, information systems manager in the cabinet’s Office of Technology Services, said access to the more efficient system for the reports will cost less and allow employees to access the reports with their office computers. The monthly cost will go from $38,316 to $9,500. That results in monthly savings of $28,816.

                                                            --end--