Neel Mehta
For participants of the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, paper vouchers will soon be a thing of the past.
ACS, A Xerox Company (NYSE: XRX), will offer its electronic benefits transfer services to provide electronic cards with the same capabilities as debit cards to allow greater access to benefits and give the state of Virginia a more efficient back-office operation.
The secure magnetic stripe card will allow families to buy the food they need in smaller amounts, an improvement over the paper system that forced WIC participants to make one food purchase large enough to cover an entire benefit period. Transactions will also be transmitted to the state in real time, reimbursing retailers quickly and reducing the chance of errors, noncompliance and fraud. ACS was the first service provider to implement a statewide, real-time WIC EBT solution.
“Our solutions are designed to help government agencies improve service and lower costs,“ said Joseph Doherty, executive vice president and chief operating officer, ACS Government Solutions. “WIC EBT can immediately show results for a state and its citizens.“
