Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Health And Human Services topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Pine County approves AI phone and attestation system for HHS
Summary
The Pine County Board approved a $39,400 first-year contract for "EVA," an AI-powered phone and verbal-attestation system for Health & Human Services, with staff saying it could save eligibility workers about 20 minutes per interview and be fully configured in three to four months.
The Pine County Board voted to approve the purchase and implementation of EVA, an AI-powered call-handling and verbal-attestation system for the county's Health & Human Services office.
During a technology committee report, commissioners heard that several county servers are at end-of-life and that EVA is intended to ease front-desk call volume and capture routine verbal attestation during eligibility interviews. Becky Fosse, Pine County health and human services director, told the board the system requires about "3 to 4 months" of setup and can both handle multiple callers and follow up to capture attestations for audit purposes: "EVA captures a verbal attestation, and it can save 20 minutes of an eligibility worker's time as they're going through the process of determining eligibility for a client." (Becky Fosse)
Board discussion focused on operational benefits and cost. Committee members said EVA was cheaper than hiring additional staff and could reduce routine call-handling time; the first-year cost was presented as approximately $39,400 with annual costs falling to roughly $34,020 thereafter. A motion to approve the EVA software for the HHS front desk passed on a voice vote with no roll-call tally recorded.
The county will contract with the vendor for configuration and support; staff said other Minnesota counties have adopted EVA and can provide implementation guidance. Becky Fosse said support is included and Pine County is "not the first county" to adopt the system, allowing the county to follow prior implementations. Board members asked for timeline and budget details as the contract proceeds; county staff said more of the technology and related budget items are already in the capital plan.
The Board did not specify a formal date for vendor onboarding during the public discussion; staff said they expect the three- to four-month setup before EVA reaches full functionality.
