State Eligibility System Embarks on a 6-Year-Plus Modernization Journey

Modernization is coming to the state’s benefit eligibility system, which is used to determine whether a Texan may receive Medicaid, Social Security benefits and food assistance, among other programming.

Health and Human Services (HHS) is in the first phase of moving multiple applications, services and tools that make up the Texas Integrated Eligibility Redesign System (TIERS) into the cloud.

HHS requested $22.3 million for 2026 and $23.7 million for 2027 to move into phase 2, according to its legislative appropriations request. This is an exceptional items request.

The outcomes of this project are far reaching and include not only reduced contract fees, increased security and advanced data capabilities, but scalability for increased use during disasters would reduce bottlenecks or downtime.

Phase 1, already in flight, includes migrating 38 applications, services and tools into the Amazon Web Services cloud. Phase 2 would move non-production environments.

The system migration aims not only to comply with state and federal regulations, but also to lessen the risk of outages, reduce licensing fees, reduce its footprint and improve performance. The agency believes this will help with workloads and enhance the end-user experience.

The forecasted “out-year costs” are:

• $7.7 million in 2028
• $7.9 million in 2029
• $2.5 million in 2030

The budget request is made by Health and Human Services Commission, the administrative arm of HHS. The full budget request is located at the website; however, it is broken down at the Legislative Budget Board’s website.