Hartford - Connecticut's Department of Social Services commissioner assured state lawmakers on Wednesday that strides are being made to modernize the agency's antiquated computer and phone systems, reducing people's wait times as well as piles of paperwork stacked up in DSS offices.

A year ago, DSS was inundated with a record volume of applications for Medicaid health benefits, food and cash assistance, yet had insufficient staffing and obsolete technology to handle the requests for assistance, Commissioner Roderick Bremby said during a briefing at the state Capitol.

"They were never designed for the call volume they were experiencing," he said of the agency's phone and other systems.

Bremby said people from around Connecticut who deal with DSS can now call one central number and get help from numerous workers. Before, they had to speak to the one person who happened to be assigned to their case. Also, potential recipients can now go online and check whether they may be eligible for Medicaid health benefits, food and cash assistance. Existing recipients can use the agency's website to access their account and check their DSS benefits.

The state is planning to eventually allow people to file applications for benefits online.

DSS has been under fire for various backlogs. Last year, the federal government ranked Connecticut last among all the states and territories for processing applications for the food stamp program in a timely manner. Two lawsuits are also pending against the agency.

Bremby said the efforts to upgrade the phone and computer systems will help with improving the timeliness of processing applications. For example, he said a new document processing center created by DSS actually prioritizes applications for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP, the food stamp program. Bremby said he expects applications will be more accurately processed once the new systems are fully in place.

Bremby acknowledged "we're still not doing as well as we should" in quickly processing SNAP applications, but believes it will improve.

"We know that the way in which we are performing now is better than we ever have," he said.

Last fall, approximately 125 boxes of unprocessed welfare and food stamp forms, including some with requests for voter registration assistance, were discovered at the agency's regional office in Hartford. Some dated to 2009.

Bremby said improvements have been made in that office. In April, there were more than 20,000 pending applications. By the end of May, with a new business process in place, he said that figure had dropped to over 3,000. Today, he said, the agency is current with processing applications.

DSS serves approximately 750,000 Connecticut residents. About 650,000 of those people receive subsidized health care services.