There's good news to share. We're making a rare late year leap in our Food Stamp Program payment accuracy rate. Toward the end of our sample year there's so many completed cases in our quality control sample that the rate doesn't vary too much, but we had great July results. Now with two months for the QA staff to finish up we're at 93.6%, and there's a chance we can reach our 2005 campaign target goal of 94% accuracy.
Our improving accuracy rate is helpfully sustained by each correct case you work and by the collective efforts of those offices that meet and exceed our target goals. Some notable accomplishments in the FFY 2005 Better than Average campaign need to be recognized.
The Southeast Region is still perfect with 100% payment accuracy in the 42 cases sampled there. A remarkable acheivement and a great help for our statewide performance rate.
The Coastal Region is well above our accuracy goal with 94.9% accuracy. The excellent performances from Bethel (96.9%), Nome (98.3%) and Kenai (94.7%) are keeping us in reach of our target. The region has issued 44% of the dollars in our sample, so theyre having strong positive influence on our payment accuracy rate.
In the Central Region, the Gambell office stands above our goal with 94.8% payment accuracy, and the Mat-Su APA unit has 100% accuracy in the 15 cases sampled there.
The Northern Region is close to our goal with 93.4% accuracy and with a strong finish may hit our 94% target.
Alaska remains in the hunt for a bonus award for our 99.51% accuracy in decisions to close cases or deny food stamp applications. A great job statewide!
It is with your continued focus on work quality, and good deeds by our dedicated Quality Assessment Review Committee that the accuracy rate is now 93.6%. We need to acknowledge how much this team's cooperative effort adds to our growing success. Our food stamp error rate could be nealy two points higher without the thoughtful and clever noodling of these folks who work hard for us all to prove your cases right recognize the continuous improvement opportunites that come to light through the process.
Our challenge remains to best the national average. Despite all these well-deserved hugs, we've still got a way. We'll continue our Better than Average campaign in FFY 2006 and count, once again, on your good work to get us there. Thanks everyone.
Here's a link to the latest office by office performance reports.
http://dpaweb.hss.state.ak.us/main/fs/fs_district_report_05.pdf