Officials say consortium funding aimed at reducing benefit-error rates after federal changes

County staff explained that the supplemental allocation comes through an income-maintenance consortium led by Dane County and shared among participating counties. "Those are the counties, and, the conversation amongst the consortium and the directors was each county is adding a lead position, and then Dane County is adding 6 positions, and Sheboygan is adding 2," Kelly Olsen said when listing partner counties.

Olsen described the policy driver as federal changes that altered state funding and risk. She said states must keep an error rate at 6% or lower to avoid potential penalties and that the Department of Health Services asked consortiums to add staff for quality assurance. "So in a response to that, the Department of Health Services has requested that income maintenance consortiums add additional staff, which is being fully funded through this funding allocation from the state so that we can do additional quality control to alleviate as many errors as possible," Olsen said.

County staff said the capital consortium is receiving roughly $1.5 million for the effort and that Adams County's share is comparable to what the county already pays for a lead position, which staff estimated at roughly $102,000 to cover salary and benefits. The committee heard that Adams County's own error rate is low but that consortium averages can be skewed by larger counties with higher volumes; staff stressed the action is intended to protect the state and counties from steep penalties.