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Thursday, September 03, 2009

Ind. Gov't. - "Failed Minn. health software ends up in court "

From the Houston Chronicle, a story by Martiga Lohn begins:

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Six years and more than $30 million ago, the Minnesota Department of Human Services set out to improve its method for processing health insurance applications.

The vision: caseworkers and customers tapping into an electronic system that could whiz through 1,000 applications a day, determining eligibility and matching a person with the right program in about 30 seconds.

It was not meant to be.

The project called HealthMatch was finally killed last year after the price tag ballooned, the software developer changed hands three times and the relationship between project leaders and state officials soured. Now the state is defending itself against a lawsuit from the contractor it fired, Dallas-based ACS State and Local Solutions Inc.

Meanwhile, Minnesota is still years away from an electronic system that could catch frequent eligibility errors that unfairly shut out some people while letting in others who shouldn't be in — costing the state millions.

Nearly 700,000 people are covered by three state health care programs.

"It's a significant setback for the state because the need to improve eligibility determination is still there, and it has not been addressed in any really significant way," said Deborah Junod, a project manager in the Legislative Auditor's office who reviewed the project.

ACS develops government systems for everything from toll collections to electronic welfare payment cards, working on Medicaid programs in states including Alaska, Georgia, Indiana, Missouri, North Carolina and Texas.

Sounds familiar? On August 21st, a story by Ken Kusmer of the AP also referenced ASC. A quote:
A coalition of companies led by Armonk, N.Y.-based IBM Corp. and Dallas-based Affiliated Computer Services Inc. ( ACS) privatized Indiana's processing of food stamps, Medicaid and other welfare benefits under a 10-year contract, now worth $1.34 billion, signed by Daniels in December 2006. * * *

Clients, advocates and lawmakers have harshly criticized the privatization initiative under which the state turned over 1,500 state welfare case workers to ACS in March 2007 and began rolling out automation including telephone call centers, a Web site and document imaging. Critics complain of lost documents, delays in approving benefits, lengthy call hold times and other problems.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on September 3, 2009 01:32 PM
Posted to Indiana Government