Missouri Family Support Division seeks staff and IT investments to clear Medicaid renewal backlog
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Summary
Department of Social Services leaders told the House budget subcommittee they need targeted contracted staff and call‑center technology to process a backlog of family Medicaid renewals ahead of policy changes under HR 1, while members pressed for better oversight of TANF and grant spending.
Mandy Adams, director of the Family Support Division, told the House budget subcommittee on Feb. 6 that the division’s FY2027 request includes targeted contracted staff and ongoing IT funding to address a backlog of family Medicaid renewals and to support SNAP and other income‑maintenance services. "My name is Mandy Adams, and I am the director for the Family Support Division," Adams said as she opened the presentation and framed staff, systems and accountability as the department’s priorities.
The division is requesting a $9.2 million new decision item to hire contracted staff to process annual Medicaid renewals and reduce a backlog that the department said stemmed from the 2021 adult expansion and the suspension of renewals during the public‑health emergency. Adams said the backlog reflects roughly 360,000 additional cases tied to the adult expansion group and warned that HR 1 implementation, which would move some groups to six‑month renewals, could double the processing need if cases remain unprocessed.
Committee members pressed officials on whether the funding is a short‑term bandage while upgraded systems are built. "This is the Band‑Aid we’re putting on while we’re waiting for technology," one member asked. FSD staff and the committee’s technology lead described parallel strategies: short‑term contract staffing to clear the backlog, and longer‑term investment in automated IVR, call summarization and METIS/FAMIS upgrades to change how renewals and eligibility are handled.
Adams said the division will not request additional state FTE for FY2027 tied to this effort; instead, contracted staff would be scaled up while the state shifts experienced staff to SNAP and temporary assistance workloads. She told members that call center operations run daily outreach starting at 6 a.m., with about 2,000–2,500 outbound calls on heavy days, and that average wait times improved from 41 minutes (Q4 FY24) to 28 minutes (Q4 FY25) after operational changes. The division’s target is under 20 minutes.
The committee also examined the division’s IT requests. Officials reviewed the legacy Family Assistance Management Information System (FAMIS) and the Missouri Eligibility and Enrollment System (METIS), with METIS funding requests for MAGI and SNAP modules, enterprise content management and a project management office. Toy Wilde, the department’s CIO, told the committee the state is planning modular MMIS and METIS work to support HR 1 requirements and long‑term federal certification.
Members repeatedly pressed for more detail about how the department uses lapses and federal matches and asked for written follow‑up on call‑center volumes, geographic distributions of benefit use and clear documentation of how grants and one‑time appropriations are monitored for program performance. Department staff said they would provide the committee written data on call‑center volumes, summer EBT (Sunbucks) participation, refugee resettlement carryover plans, and performance materials requested for particular gov‑recommended new decision items.
What’s next: the department promised written follow‑ups on call‑center volumes, METIS/FAMIS timelines, and the oversight materials members requested for grant recipients. The House subcommittee will consider those materials as it refines FY2027 appropriations.
