State officials say review found hundreds of millions in savings; health and child services cite concrete gains

State officials presented examples from a year-long fiscal-responsibility review that they said produced substantial program efficiencies without cutting services.

Bruce Greenstein, the state health secretary, said the Louisiana Department of Health modernized verification systems and identified more than $104 million in estimated savings, including "over $15 million in state funds" that can be redirected to health services. He cited initiatives such as residency verification, deceased-beneficiary identification, incarceration checks, recoupment and improved data feeds to reduce improper enrollment or payments. Greenstein said SNAP case-closure work has yielded more than $2 million in savings to date.

Rebecca Harris, secretary of the Department of Children and Family Services, said operational changes aimed at improving child-welfare responsiveness included creating a second shift for child-protective services staffed by "more than 50 newly hired and trained investigators," which reduced average caseloads by 17% and decreased average speed-to-answer at the child-abuse hotline by 81%.

Officials said the administration expects broader results: a fiscal-responsibility representative told the press that the review is projected to yield "almost a billion in annual cost savings and efficiencies" across 17 departments. Commissioner of Administration Taylor Barra said those savings supported multi‑year 'standstill' budgets, improved reserve balances and helped secure favorable bond-rating conversations.

Officials framed these changes as administrative action using audit findings, and said the work was carried out in partnership with the Legislative Auditor's office. The press conference did not include independent audits of every dollar cited; officials described some figures as estimates or program-calculation results and said legislative or statutory changes may be needed for some reforms.