Washington Connection will be unavailable and Healthplanfinder will have reduced functionality beginning after 5 p.m. Aug. 11 to 8 a.m. Aug. 16; some statewide health and human services and related offices will be unavailable Aug. 14-15.
Beginning after 5 p.m. Friday, Aug. 11 through 8 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 16, one of Washington state’s public benefits eligibility systems, the Automated Client Eligibility System, will undergo a critical IT upgrade that will impact the primary portals Washingtonians use to apply for public benefits like food, cash assistance and health care. This conversion process is a behind-the-scenes change only. Once the conversion is complete, ACES users will not experience any changes to their access, screens, reports, etc., and clients will not notice a difference in how their cases are managed.
During this time, Washington Connection will be unavailable and as a result, a number of social services and health and human services offices that rely on the ACES system will be closed to the public Aug. 14-15. The list below identifies health and human services offices and service impacts that will be unavailable Aug. 14-15.
Dept. of Children, Youth, & Families
- Foster Care and Adoption Support Medicaid referrals will be made but processing will be delayed until Aug. 16.
Dept. of Social and Health Services
- Aging and Long-Term Support Administration’s Home and Community Services Financial Staff will be unavailable to process calls.
- Developmental Disabilities Administration Long-Term Care Financial Call Center will be unavailable.
- Economic Services Administration Community Services Offices and Customer Service Contact Center including all services for programs such as cash, food, and medical will be unavailable.
Health Care Authority
- Medical Eligibility Determination Services (MEDS) phone lines will be unavailable, although the main call center will remain open.
- ProviderOne will be available for normal operations except for adding or updating Medicaid eligibility.
Washington Health Benefit Exchange
- Washington Healthplanfinder, the state’s marketplace for health plans, and their Customer Support Center (call center) will remain open to help customers with limited services during the outage. Once the upgrade is complete, eligibility services will be run for health insurance coverage. Customers will receive an email or mail directing them back to Washington Healthplanfinder to see their eligibility results.
We expect services to be fully restored and offices reopened at 8 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 16.
During the conversion, people are encouraged to contact WA211 (call 211 or visit wa211.org) to get connected with resources in their communities.