Ramsey County seeks 17.5 staff to handle federal HR1 workload, warns of multi-million-dollar impact

Director Ali told the Ramsey County Board of Commissioners that changes under federal HR1 will substantially increase the county's workload and require additional staff to avoid coverage losses for eligible residents. The county is asking the board to approve a request for 17.5 full-time-equivalent positions'0 (16.5 eligibility specialists and one supervisor) to cover increased reviews, notices and manual casework.

"Our staff will have more eligibility reviews, more verificationists, more notices, and more casework," Ali said during a presentation to the board, describing renewals moving from once a year to every six months for many programs. Ali said medical-assistance renewals will be especially affected and that during peak renewal periods the department already devotes roughly 1,400 staff hours per month (about eight full-time equivalents) to renewals.

The presentation detailed steps the county has already taken'0training for nearly 170 employees, new job descriptions, and a digital quality-assurance tool developed with the county CIO'0but stressed those improvements alone cannot absorb the additional HR1 work. Ali said the county's staffing recommendation "is based on the actual work that Ramsey County is going to do for residents" and will be reevaluated as state guidance and system support evolve.

Board members pushed on measurement and risk. Commissioner Zhang asked how the county determined the 12 eligibility-FTE figure for medical assistance and how officials will assess whether to scale staffing up. Ali replied the estimate derives from internal assessments of work the county must perform, excluding tasks that can be automated or done by the state or third parties, and that the county will monitor capacity and adjust as state systems and guidance change.

The county plans to return to the board on Aug. 18 with a formal hiring request and said newly hired eligibility specialists will require six to nine months of training before handling caseloads independently.