Policy and Practice | December 2022

association news

ISM Awards IT Innovations T he American Public Human Services Association’s (APHSA) Information Technology Solutions Management for Human Services (ISM) Conference & Expo promotes Information Technology (IT) solu tions and celebrates IT achievements in human services. This year, the honors were presented at the Awards of Excellence Lunch on October 24 at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in National Harbor, MD. Jerry W. Friedman Excellence in Leadership Dale Ownby, Eligibility Services Division (ESD) Director for Utah’s Department of Workforce Services , received the Jerry W. Friedman Excellence in Leadership Award. Jerry W. Friedman, in whose honor the award was created, served as APHSA’s Executive Director for eight years and was, for many years, an active member of the ISM Planning Committee. The award recognizes an individual who has demonstrated a clear understanding of the fundamental role that IT can play in efficient and effective operation in the field of health and human services and honors innova tive leadership that has promoted sound information technology solutions, policies, and practices. Ownby played a pivotal role in creating ESD, a new division in 2009, reducing the ratio of leadership to front line staff by eliminating duplication of effort across five regions and stream lining the responsibilities of supervisors and managers. He led the development of the division’s first Program Review Team to promote consistent adherence to policies and procedures and support ongoing learning rather than punitive corrections. Although eligible to retire in July 2022 after 30 exceptional years of service, but with lingering doubts about the pandemic and how ESD

Left to Right: Robert Hobbelman, ISM 1st Vice Chair (VA); Dale Ownby, Award Recipient (UT); Patricia Donaldson, HSITAG Chair; Ray Davidson, APHSA COO

would recover, Ownby postponed his retirement for another 18 months. While others in his position would take an opportunity to leave as scheduled, Dale’s decision to continue working, leading and supporting ESD through tough times ahead reaffirms his great love for, and dedication to, his division, his employees, and the citizens of Utah. As Utah Department of Workforce Services’ Executive Director Casey Cameron said, “Dale is well deserving of this award. For over 30 years, he’s demonstrated compassionate leadership and achieved many suc cessful outcomes. His legacy is forever cemented within the hearts of eli gibility services staff, department colleagues, partners, and friends." Best Use of Technology for Customers (Internal Focus) The Ohio Department of Administrative Services (DAS) for Health and Family Services was rec ognized for Best Use of Technology for Customers (Internal Focus) because of their innovative use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies, or “bots,” to vastly improve productivity and effi ciencies as they better serve children and families in their communities. Under the program name, Ohio Benefits Program Intelligent Process

Automation, the team, as described by Duane Fontenot, consultant at APHSA and former IT director for Louisiana’s Department of Children and Family Services, “Identified labor-intensive caseload responsibilities and used AI to replicate the human actions needed to free up their workforce and increase focus on more value-added activities.” Duane further details the program by adding, “a family of ‘bots’ was created, such as the ‘Baby Bot,’ to address newborns’ access to Medicaid within just one day of receiving the child’s information.” In 2021, the DAS identified the counties’ labor-intensive responsibilities as an opportunity to expand the use of AI and process automation software to replicate human actions and complete rules-based tasks, which would free up the workforce to complete other value added activities. DAS also recognized that as a county-administered state, any successful technological innovations required a harmony of policy needs and operational realities. While DAS advocated for AI adoption, the Ohio Department of Medicaid (ODM) and the Department of Job and Family Services (JFS) led the prioritization of use cases with the state’s 88 counties, identifying areas where intelligent automation could be brought to life.

Photo by Robb Cohen Photography and Video

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